The Disaster Relief Fund released a total of $18 million to aid people in distress outside Hong Kong in the 2005 financial year.

It provided assistance through eight relief projects operated by four relief organisations to help tide victims over the calamities that had befallen them.

The Government also responded to a direct appeal from the Pakistani government for relief supplies after the South Asia earthquake.

From last June to August, three grants totalling $8 million were made to meet the urgent needs of flood vicitms in Chongqing, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Sichuan and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Another grant of $1 million was made last December for earthquake victims in Jiangxi.

In last October and November, four grants totalling $7.48 million were approved for the relief of earthquake victims in Pakistan and India.

One more grant of $2 million was approved in March this year to help drought victims in Ethiopia.