Japan will donate ambulances and fund eight projects in Chinese areas affected by the May 12 earthquake.

The assistance is valued at US$1.35 million.

According to an agreement signed on Wednesday between China's Commerce Ministry and the Japanese Embassy in China, Japan will help construct one medical clinic as well as a disease control and prevention building.

In Da'nangou and Xinzhai villages in the Gansu Province, Japan will fund the construction of two primary schools. The timetable for the project was not released.

The money will also be used to purchase supplies of drinking water, medical equipment and 20 ambulances which will be used in the Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces.

Japan shares the pain of the Chinese in the Wenchuan earthquake and will provide further help for quake reconstruction, said Yuji Miyamoto, Japanese Ambassador to China.

China's vice minister of Commerce Yi Xiaozhun expressed thanks to the Japanese government for its help.

The Wenchuan 8.0-magnitude earthquake on May 12 left more than 87,000 people dead or missing and millions homeless. The cost was put at more than 845 billion yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2009)