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BEIJING: China has earmarked nearly US$200 million to repair and rebuild schools damaged in a devastating magnitude-8.0 quake that struck the country's southwest in May, state media said Wednesday.
The finance ministry has allocated 1.34 billion yuan (US$196 million) to rebuild schools in badly-hit areas in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces, the Beijing Times reported.
It has also given out 980 million yuan for schools to buy teaching equipment and facilities, it said.
The money is part of a 70-billion-yuan budget the central government set aside this year for reconstruction after the earthquake, which left about 88,000 people dead or missing.
An estimated 7,000 schools were destroyed, killing about 9,000 students and teachers.
Suspicions that corruption was a factor in the flawed construction triggered calls by grief-stricken parents for probes into the collapses.
- AFP/yb
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