The Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) has called on the public todonate cash and necessary items for those in the snow disasterareas of central, east and south China. The need for help wasespecially strong in remote poverty-stricken areas, it said.

The RCSC said in its appeal that disaster areas urgently neededfood, medicine, quilts, winter coats and other supplies. Cashdonations would be encouraged because of limited transportationamid the snow.

The RCSC has provided 8 million yuan (about 1 million U.S.dollars) worth of donations, including food, medicine,cotton-padded tents and more than 86,300 coats and quilts tosupport relief work in the worst-hit areas.

The society also urged its branches to start the donation andrelief work immediately. The RCSC donation hotline is (010) 64027620 or (010) 6513 9999, and the renminbi donation account is 0200001 0090 1441 3252. On-line donations are being accepted atwww.redcross.org.cn.

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League(CCYL) has granted membership dues to support its members' disasterrelief activities in nine of the worst-hit regions. The CCYL alsourged members in disaster areas to help with disaster relief andemergency aid work.

On Friday, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)government approved a grant of 8 million HK dollars (1.03 millionU.S. dollars) from the Disaster Relief Fund for the Hong Kong RedCross to provide emergency relief to snowstorm victims in themainland.

The snow, the heaviest in decades in many places, has beenfalling in east, central and south China for more than a fortnight.It has caused deaths, structural collapses, blackouts, highwayclosures and livestock and crop destruction.

Amid China's worst snow disaster in decades, the Chinese leadershave shown the public a hands-on approach by visiting peopleworking on the front lines of the weather crisis.

As of Friday, five of the nine Standing Committee members of thePolitical Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee,the top decision-making body, had visited disaster relief workersor those working in mines and ports to provide coal for the powersystem.

(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2008)