Hours after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan province, Kan Fengqin, a senior Chinese lawyer working in Mexico and survivor of the Tangshan earthquake, made out donations to the homeland.

"I went through the Tangshan earthquake 32 years ago. Without the assistance from people around the country, it would have been extremely difficult for Tangshan to recover in such a short time," Kan was quoted by People's Daily Online as saying.

The Tangshan earthquake in Hebei province in 1976, with the same magnitude as Monday's quake, claimed 242,000 lives.

As an overseas Chinese, Kan found it her duty to encourage and support the Sichuan quake victims.

She was among hundreds of thousands of overseas Chinese in every corner of the world, from Britain to Brazil and Russia to Australia, who have taken quick action and poured out aid to Sichuan.

As of 4 pm yesterday, overseas Chinese have donated more than 120 million yuan ($17.2 million) for the disaster, including 97.5 million ($14 million) through the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, Li Guohong, head of the publicity division under the office told China Daily.

By Wednesday afternoon, the Chinese Embassy in Japan had received donations of more than 52 million yen ($500,000), mostly from overseas Chinese and Chinese students there.

Zhu Hongbo, a Chinese entrepreneur running a small waste disposal company in Japan, donated 1 million yen ($9,500) on Tuesday. "Although I'm not rich, I can eat and drink less to save money for my compatriots who are going through a disaster," Zhu told local media.

In Los Angeles, Chen Shijie, a spokesman for the Chinese Consulate, said his office had been flooded with calls from local Chinese asking how to donate money.

Xu Ping and Xu Bin, 9-year-old twin boys in Illinois, sent a letter to children in Wenchuan county, the quake epicenter, and called for children worldwide to donate their pocket money.

(China Daily 05/16/2008 page12)