As of Wednesday noon, domestic and foreign donations for China's quake victims stood at 16 billion yuan (US$2.29 billion), up about 2 billion yuan from the previous day, according to the Information Office of State Council.

So far, 1.764 billion yuan had been forwarded to the affected areas, the office said.

The Red Cross Society of China announced it had received 3 billion yuan worth of relief supplies as of 6:00 PM on Tuesday from domestic and foreign donors and had delivered 1.3 billion yuan in cash and goods.

By Wednesday, Taiwan compatriots had pledged to donate 750 million yuan in cash, in addition to relief materials, the Information Office said.

The disaster relief fund from the central budget was 9.3 billion yuan as of 2:00 PM on Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Finance.

The known death toll from China's devastating earthquake rose by 1,278 to 41,353 as of Wednesday noon.

Another 274,683 people were injured and there were still 32,666 missing in the aftermath of the 8.0-magnitude quake that hit southwestern Sichuan Province on May 12.

(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2008)