The China Foundation for Human Rights Development on Tuesday urged the public to offer donations for the residents of the earthquake-hit areas.

The foundation donated 1 million yuan (about 143,000 U.S. dollars) to the area.

As a non-governmental organization that aims to promote human rights, the foundation has a responsibility to assist the disaster-relief work, said Huang Mengfu, the foundation's president.

The foundation also contributed about 500,000 yuan worth of clothes to help those affected by the quake.

Also on Tuesday, the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese urged overseas Chinese, relatives of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese to offer assistance to the quake area.

The federation donated 1 million yuan to the returned overseas Chinese federation of Sichuan Province to help with disaster-relief work.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2008)