The July 5th riot in Urumqi affected many people's lives. Insurance companies are now making payments to cover some of their losses. The first payments came on Friday.

Li Zimei is one of the victims of the riot in Urumqi. She has received 40 thousand yuan from the China Pacific Insurance company to compensate her losses.

She is among the first batch whose claims have been settled, after local insurance companies decided to speed up the process.

Pan Yong, General Manager China Pacific Insurance (Xinjiang), said, "under ordinary procedures, we can only settle claims when all the documents are done. Now we are breaking the normal routine. Once the responsibility is clarified, we will make a pre-payment to clients, to help them through the difficulties."

Many businesses suffered damages during the riot. Local rural credit institutes are investigating and analyzing their losses, to give them favored credit support. This will help them resume operations as soon as possible.

ABbdu, Director of Xinjiang Rural Credit Institute, said, "If their loans have expired, we can extend their time limit. If previous interest is too high for them, we will also try our best to reduce their burden."

The Chinese government attaches great importance to the social stability of the violence-torn region. It wants all issues related to the riots, including compensation for victims and punishment of the rioters, to be dealt with promptly and properly.

(CCTV July 20, 2009)