The central government on Wednesday allocated 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million) in emergency aid for the victims of an earthquake that hit Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China, on Monday.

The Ministry of Finance announced the relief move in a press release, saying the money is for helping victims in the quake-hit areas cope with their living difficulties.

The quake, measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale, occurred at 9:38 a.m. Monday, in Zhaosu County, in the region's Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture with the epicenter located at 43.1 degrees north latitude, 80.1 degrees east longitude.

The local seismological bureau said on Monday that 10 people were killed and 34 were injured in the earthquake, and local officials said on Tuesday a total of 1,226 people, most of whom are ethnic Mongolians, were seriously affected.

Some 500 homeless people were transferred to relief tents while some tried to ward off the cold wind in buses amid the frozen weather.

Local officials said 1,000 tents have been sent by civil affairs departments to the quake-hit mountainous area, where local residents battled the bitter cold which dropped to minus 25 degrees Celsius early Tuesday.

The earthquake toppled 702 residential rooms and seriously damaged 487 residential rooms, with the direct economic losses estimated at more than 16 million yuan (US$1.9 million), said officials with Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2003)