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Some five billion rubles ($196.1 million) will be allotted to remedying the consequences of a massive quake which struck southern Sakhalin on August 2 killing two and leaving about 3,000 people homeless in the town of Nevelsk, news reports cited Regional Development Minister Vladimir Yakovlev as announcing Monday.

An initial sum of two billion rubles will be allocated for restoration in Sakhalin’s Nevelsky County this year, with another three billion allotted in the year 2008, Ria Novosti said.

The 6.8 magnitude quake, which hit the island’s southern coast, with the epicenter located 15 kilometers off Nevelsk in the Tatarsky Strait, left over 200 residential buildings ruined, resulting in a large number of people residing in temporary tent camps.

Currently, 1,200 people have been given temporary residence in recreation centers, 500 children and parents have been provided places in recreational camps, and 56 disabled have been sent to retirement and nursing homes.

The funds to be allotted will go towards building new residences, restoring structures which have not seen much damage, and efforts to reduce the number of stories in buildings. Of all the damaged housing, 123 buildings will be labeled irreparable and pulled down, while another 33 will go through reconstruction, Regnum.ru reported.

According to Yakovlev, a major problem for restoring housing in Nevelsk is the lack of a construction materials producing facilities in Sakhalin region, with all building and constructional materials, including poling and cement, delivered by ferry from neighboring territories such as Khabarovsk region.

Currently, Yakovlev noted, negotiations are being held with engineering plants and factories in Russia’s cities Volgograd and Pereslavl-Zalessky, as well as facilities in Japan and Canada, for starting delivery of quickly-erected earthquake-proof houses, Ria Novosti said.