BEIJING, Dec. 20 -- The Chinese government on Wednesday allocated 30 million yuan (about 4.23 million U.S. dollars) in emergency funding for the restoration of roads in quake-hit Gansu and Qinghai provinces in the northwest of the country.

The new funding, jointly released by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport, will aid the two provinces in restoring roads affected by a late Monday earthquake.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development also announced that it has sent an expert team to quake-hit areas in Gansu to provide guidance and support in carrying out damage assessment of houses and municipal facilities as well as repair work of these facilities.