As soon as a truck loaded with candles, mosquito-repellent incense and flashlights arrived at the distribution center in Dujiangyan, one of the cities worst hit by China's May 12 earthquake, workers and volunteers hurried to count, register and store the supplies.

"For every batch of supplies, we have a clear five-step process," said Wang Xiaohong, deputy director of Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Dujiangyan City Committee.

"Besides counting, registration, storage, we make a distribution plan for all relief supplies and get feedback from all the recipients," Wang said.

"All recipients must use their real names," she stressed.

Li added all the cash donations were deposited in a designated bank account under the supervision of the audit office and finance department.

Zhao Zhilong, Party head of Xujia Township in Dujiangyan, said the basic principle for supplies distribution was to hand them out to quake victims within 24 hours of taking delivery.

"We will be responsible if people are caught in the rain when we have relief supplies in the government's compound," he said.

The central government promised strict supervision of relief supplies and severe penalties for misappropriation after the media reported tents for quake victims, the most urgently needed supplies, had inexplicably popped up in luxury homes in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province.

With an unprecedented amount of donations pouring into the quake-hit regions, the public doubted whether their donations would be delivered to quake victims despite the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) promise to promptly, effectively and transparently handle donations and other relief supplies to quake-stricken regions.

After the scandal of the tents in Chengdu, both the central and local governments took further action to ensure prompt and transparent delivery, and to dispel public doubts.

China's top anti-graft body, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, asked its subordinate bodies to swiftly and severely deal with official corruption or malfeasance that significantly hampered progress or caused an extreme waste of supplies.

The Ministry of Public Security released a notice and asked local bureaus to fully prosecute those involved in misappropriation. Chief Justice Wang Shengjun on Monday instructed courts in the quake zone to deal firmly with criminal behavior, particularly corruption.

The devastating earthquake on May 12 that claimed 65,080 lives had attracted donations from home and abroad totaling 30.88 billion yuan as of Monday noon.

(Xinhua News Agency May 27, 2008)