China quake death toll remains unchanged

BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The death toll of China's massive earthquake reported no increase from Thursday's figure, freezing at 69,180 of Friday noon, the State Council Information Office said.

The number of the injured also remained at 374,008 and people reported missing dropped by eight to 17,398 after the 8.0-magnitude quake rocked southwestern Sichuan Province and neighboring regions on May 12.

By Thursday, about 1.44 million quake survivors had been rescued and evacuated.

In the 24 hours that ended Friday noon, 201 aftershocks were monitored in the quake zone, according to the China Earthquake Administration.

Three of the tremors were above 4.0 magnitude but under 5.0, while the rest were at or below 3.9 magnitude.

A total of 13,297 aftershocks had been detected since May 12.

As of Friday noon, 52,195 km of damaged highways restored operation, up 5 km over the previous report, while 53,295 km of roads were destroyed in the quake, according to the Ministry of Transport.

And 40,650.1 km of the 47,642.5 km quake-damaged water pipelines have been repaired, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.