BEIJING, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Donations to the Yushu quake zone in northwest China's Qinghai Province have exceeded 8.7 billion yuan (about 1.28 billion U.S. dollars) as of Monday noon, with about 7.9 billion yuan in cash and the remaining in relief materials, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

In a statement, the ministry said it had received 2.417 billion yuan and the Qinghai provincial government received over 2 billion yuan in donations, while the Red Cross Society of China and the China Charity Federation had each raised about 2 billion yuan.

Nearly 2,700 people died after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit Qinghai's Yushu prefecture on April 14.