China's central government has distributed more than 10.7 billion yuan (about US$1.6 billion) in financial aid to survivors of the May 12 earthquake, helping nearly 10 million people as of the end of 2008, the Ministry of Finance said in Beijing on Sunday.

The money was distributed from June to December in quake-hit Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi and Yunnan provinces and Chongqing city.

For about 8.9 million people who lost their residences and sources of income, the standard aid was 10 yuan plus 500 grams of food each day.

Others, including orphans, the elderly and the disabled with no living relatives, got 600 yuan every month.

To ensure survivors were warm during the winter, the government also distributed 625 million yuan in special aid.

(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2009)