Preliminary estimates showed the May 12 earthquake that jolted southwest China has caused a loss of 6.72 billion yuan (US$960 million) to the country's communication industry, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Friday.

By 3:00 PM on Thursday, eight employees of local telecom companies in the quake-stricken Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces had been confirmed dead, with 69 injured and 34 missing.

A total of 3,897 telecom outlets in the quake zone had reported losses. The devastating quake had paralyzed 28,714 mobile communication base stations, pulled apart cables with a length of 28,765 kilometers and pushed over 142,078 telegraph poles.

The call volumes following the quake were 10 times the normal level in Sichuan and once caused congestion in the network, Zhao said.

The ministry urged telecom companies to beef up to ensure communications in and out of the quake zones while calling on users to make short calls to spare room for disaster relief.

Sources say experts would be sent to assess the geological condition and guide the reconstruction work to avoid seismic belts or other disaster-prone regions.

(Xinhua News Agency May 30, 2008)