Donations to the Yushu quake zone in northwest China's Qinghai Province have exceeded 8.7 billion yuan (about US$1.28 billion) as of Monday noon, with about 7.9 billion yuan in cash and the remaining in relief materials, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

In a statement, the ministry said it had received 2.417 billion yuan and the Qinghai provincial government received over 2 billion yuan in donations, while the Red Cross Society of China and the China Charity Federation had each raised about 2 billion yuan.

Nearly 2,700 people died after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit Qinghai's Yushu prefecture on April 14.

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2010)