Public transportation companies in Urumqi have received 5.25 million yuan (US$768,668) in compensation for buses burned or damaged in the July 5 riot in the city that left 197 people dead and more than 1,600 others injured, local authorities said Wednesday.

The money was to repair the 267 buses damaged in the riot, said a spokesperson with the office set up to deal with issues arising from the riot.

"We contacted repair shops immediately after the riot and all of our 78 damaged buses were back on the road within a week," said Han Fudong, technology department chief of the Urumqi Municipal Public Transportation Group Ltd, one of the city's three major bus operators.

Nearly all of the city's 2,500 buses are now back in operation.

(Xinhua News Agency August 26, 2009)