The State Council has issued guidelines for its one-on-one support scheme for the 19 provinces and cities designated to aid the 20 hard-hit regions in last month's 8.0-magnitude earthquake.

Guangdong, the most affluent province in terms of gross domestic product, was assigned the two worst-hit regions: the epicenter Wenchuan County and the affected areas in Gansu Province.

The other provinces and cities included Beijing, Shanghai, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, among others. Most are located in the prosperous central and eastern regions.

They were required to help accomplish reconstruction within three years, said the State Council in a notice posted Wednesday on the central government web portal (www.gov.cn).

Every year, each province and city should offer aid worth at least 1 percent of its year-earlier fiscal revenue.

Among their tasks, top priority should be given to the construction of housing, schools, hospitals and infrastructure such as roads, water and gas systems, said the cabinet.

Meanwhile, the provinces and cities should help local governments make reconstruction plans and send experts and engineers to guide the work. They should also provide machinery, equipment and building materials and help with training, employment, education and agricultural production.

The reconstruction should start as soon as possible, follow scientific principles and be carried out methodically to avoid blind construction and competition, the cabinet said.

The quake that hit Sichuan Province on May 12 had killed 69,176 people as of Wednesday noon and left 374,008 injured and 17,415 others missing.

Preliminary estimates by the Industrial and Information Ministry showed the quake had caused losses of more than 200 billion yuan (about US$29 billion) to industrial enterprises in China.

(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2008)