Special report: Strong Earthquake Jolts SW China

Yang Chao (R), chairman of China Life Insurance Co., and Liu Xuanguo (L), vice secretary-general of Red Cross Society of China (RCSC), attend the donation ceremony in Beijing, capital of China, May 14, 2008. China Life Insurance Co. donated 16 million Yuan (about 2.3 million U.S. dollars) to help the relief work of the quake-hit region in Sichuan Province in southwest China via RCSC. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- An increasing number of enterprises in China's mainland had provided, or pledged to provide, financial and material support to help disaster relief following Monday's massive earthquake, government ministries said here Wednesday.

    According to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, 16 state-owned companies had donated a total of 113 million yuan (16 million U.S. dollars) to help quake victims.

    Eight of the companies donated 10 million yuan or more, including China Merchants (Holdings) Co., Ltd., China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC), China Southern Airlines Co., Ltd., China National Petroleum Corporation and China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company.

    China FAW Group Corporation, Japanese carmaker Toyato and their joint venture donated a total of 10 million yuan and 10 vehicles.

    Many other automakers had donated money or vehicles, including Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, Geely Group Co., Ltd., Chery Automobile and BYD Co. Ltd.

    In total, mainland auto manufacturers had offered financial and material support exceeding 50 million yuan (7.2 million dollars).

    Chinese lenders had also offered financial support to disaster relief.

    The state-owned "big four" lenders -- the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China -- had donated in total 57 million yuan (8.1 million U.S. dollars) as of Tuesday. Donations from their staff were still increasing.

    The Import and Export Bank of China, the Bank of Communications, China Merchants Bank and China Development Bank also made donations.

    Many foreign-funded enterprises had also offered financial support, such as Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Ltd., HSBC, APP and Carrefour, according to the Commerce Ministry.

    In addition, enterprises from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau which invest in the mainland had donated money, food or materials.

    Formosa Plastics Corp. donated 100 million yuan (14.3 million dollars) while Foxconn Technology Group gave 60 million yuan (8.6 million dollars).

    By Wednesday afternoon, enterprises based in or investing in the mainland had donated an estimated 1.5 billion yuan (208 million U.S. dollars), according to a calculations by China's web portal Sina.com.

    On Monday afternoon, the 7.8-magnitude earthquake centered on Wenchuan County, northwest of Sichuan, jolted many parts of the country.

    By 2 p.m. on Wednesday, the death toll was 14,866.