Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin congratulated individual Canadians Wednesday for donating more than 70 million Canadian dollars (US$58 million) to tsunami relief efforts.

At press conference in Montreal, Martin said the Canadian government's contribution could be "much greater" than the 80 million Canadian dollars (US$66 million) already pledged.

"It's incredible when you see that level of generosity," Martin said after touring a Canadian Red Cross centre in Montreal, where volunteers have been staffing phone lines and computer terminals 24 hours a day to process donations.  

Martin also said his government will consider ways of increasing immigration from regions devastated by the disaster, which claimed at least 150,000 lives and left as many as 5 million people homeless.

(Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2005)