"Special CPC membership dues" for quake relief exceed 9 bln yuan

BEIJING, July 18 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) had reported more than nine billion yuan of "special Party membership dues" from members across the country for quake relief, according to the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.

The special Party membership dues were initiated shortly after the May 12 earthquake jolted southwest China's Sichuan and neighboring regions to support the quake relief. Party members could voluntarily choose to donate any amount they like.

A total of 43.25 million Party members took part in this voluntary campaign and the figure reached 9.08 billion yuan (1.3 billion U.S. dollars) as of Thursday.

According to the department's order, the money would all be handed over to the department for quake relief. All the money would be transferred and used in transparency and open to public inspection.

The death toll from the 8.0-magnitude earthquake remained unchanged at 69,197 as of Friday noon, with 374,176 injured and 18,222 still missing.