MEXICO CITY, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Mexico City will receive 3.371 billion pesos (175.8 million U.S. dollars) from Mexico's Natural Disasters Fund (FONDEN) to repair the damage caused by the Sept. 19 earthquake, the government announced Tuesday.
Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said the first instalment of 87 million dollars would be used to repair schools, water pipes, sports facilities, as well as forestry and health institutions.
A second instalment will go to the rebuilding and repair of damaged houses, buildings and cultural sites, explained Mancera at a press conference with Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade.
"This is a complimentary freeing up (of resources) that will take us, approximately, to an adjusted figure of 3.371 billion pesos from FONDEN," he said.
FONDEN is a financial tool, operated by the Ministry of the Interior, to attend to the aftermath of natural disasters.
Mancera added that the resources to be used to rebuild infrastructure would be delivered directly by FONDEN to the suppliers looking after the reconstruction, without going through the coffers of the city government.
Housing funds will be distributed to the displaced through a bank card with money to pay for building materials and pay builders, a mechanism the government already deployed for victims of the Sept. 7 earthquake in southern Mexico.
According to Mancera, these resources will help 2,350 homes which were totally destroyed and 3,624 which were partially damaged, claiming 228 lives in the capital.
"This card will be delivered directly to the people so they can use it in various ways," he said.
At the same conference, Meade said the aid to the displaced would come in various forms, including a number of loans.
The Sept. 19 earthquake killed a total of 369 people in Mexico City and the states of Morelos, Puebla, Mexico, Guerrero and Oaxaca.
