The government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Tuesday approved a grant of 5 million HK Dollars (640,000 U.S. dollars) from the Disaster Relief Fund to World Vision Hong Kong to undertake a relief project for earthquake victims in Sichuan Province of the Chinese mainland, bringing the total value of grants for these earthquake victims to 316 million HK dollars.

The grant is further to a disbursement of 311 million HK dollars made earlier for the relief headquarters of the Central Government, the Amity Foundation and Hong Kong Red Cross to provide emergency relief to victims affected by the earthquake in Sichuan Province.

A spokesman for the HKSAR government said Tuesday that this had been made possible under a fast-track mechanism set up on the advice of the Disaster Relief Fund Advisory Committee (DRFAC) for the government to process applications from relief organizations for grants to provide relief to the earthquake victims more expeditiously.

(Xinhua News Agency May 20, 2008)