China's ministries of finance and civil affairs on Monday jointly allocated 200 million yuan (31.76 million U.S. dollars) as relief funds for northwestern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region after a 6.0-magnitude quake shook the region earlier this month.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the money will be mainly used for the emergency evacuation and resettlement of quake-affected people, their daily life support as well as the reconstruction of damaged residential buildings.

The 6.0-magnitude earthquake that jolted Xinjiang on March 9 affected 144,000 residents in 16 counties and cities in Hotan, Aksu and Kashgar prefectures, and caused economic losses of 523.5 million yuan, regional authorities said earlier.

On March 11, a total of 3,000 tents, 20,000 quilts and 20,000 coats were transferred to the quake-hit zone from central disaster relief reserves in Xinjiang's capital of Urumqi and Xining, capital of neighboring Qinghai province, said the statement.