BEIJING, July 2 (Reuters) - Direct economic losses caused by May's devastating earthquake in southwest China have already exceeded 1 trillion yuan ($146 billion), a provincial official was quoted as saying. The website of the ruling Communist Party mouthpiece newspaper the People's Daily (www.people.com.cn) said that Huang Xiaoxiang, a vice governor of Sichuan province, gave the estimate to a visiting U.S. delegation. The figure was much higher than the 67 billion yuan previously announced by Xi Guohua, a vice minister of industry and information technology, at a news conference in May. China's 2007 gross domestic product was 24.95 trillion yuan. The earthquake killed about 70,000 people and made more than 10 million homeless, according to official figures. ($1=6.8561 yuan) (Reporting by Zhou Xin, editing by Ben Blanchard)
A resident clears weed along the coastline of Qingdao, Shandong province July 1, 2008. China's Olympic co-host city Qingdao has appealed for help from nearby ports to contain an algae bloom ...
