China releases fuel from reserves to supply areas hit by earthquake

China's State Reserves Bureau is sending oil products from stockpiles to help prevent shortages in areas stricken by last week's earthquake, the government said Monday.

The bureau released 6,313 metric tons of fuel from reserve tanks in central China's Sichuan — where the 7.9 magnitude quake struck May 12 — and from reserves in neighboring Gansu province, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a notice on its Web site.

The commission, China's top economic planning agency, said gasoline and diesel would also be shipped to the quake area from reserves in Guizhou province.

Much of China was already facing chronic shortages of diesel and gasoline when the disaster hit.