(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-05 18:38

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong Legislative Council ( Legco) Finance Committee Tuesday approved a 250 million HK dollars ($32.09 million) funding injection to the Disaster Relief Fund to provide emergency relief to the Chinese mainland snowstorm victims.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government has proposed donating 100 million HK dollars ($32.09 million) each to the hardest hit Hunan and Guizhou provinces and 10 million HK dollars ($1.28 million) to Shaoguan Municipality in Guangdong province.

In a Legco paper, the Administration Wing said it is necessary to enable grants to be approved as fast as possible in view of the fast deteriorating conditions in the affected mainland provinces.

Several major relief organizations have submitted or will shortly be submitting applications for grants from the fund for the same purpose, which would amount to about 21 million HK dollars ($2.7 million) in total. More applications are expected.

With the Legco approval, the provisions will be allocated to the relevant mainland government agencies responsible for the disaster relief and rehabilitation work.

The Financial Secretary will seek the Disaster Relief Fund Advisory Committee's advice before making the grants.

The snowstorms have affected more than 77.8 million people in about 19 provinces, forcing the relocation of over 1.7 million people, leading to the collapse of 223,000 houses and inundating over 7.2 million hectares of farmland. The inclement weather has also wreaked havoc on the transportation system and the electricity network, causing a food shortage in many parts of the affected areas.

The HKSAR government on February 1 approved a grant of 8 million HK dollars ($1.02 million) from the fund to a relief organization to provide emergency relief to snowstorm victims.