By Xinhua,
CANBERRA : Australians with sympathy and generosity to the victims of the bushfires in Victoria state donated nearly 10 million Aust dollars (6.5 million U.S. dollars) in less than a day to a fund for victims of Victoria’s bushfires.
Victoria Premier John Brumby launched the 2009 Victorian Bushfire Fund in conjunction with the Red Cross and federal government on Monday to help individuals and communities affected by devastating bushfires.
A statement from the Red Cross said that by the evening on Monday, the fund had received 7.9 million dollars from more than 45,500 website and phone donations.
Similarly, the Salvation Army’s bushfire appeal had received 2 million dollars in just one day, and expected it to hit 3 million dollars by Tuesday.
“We’ve cracked the 2 million mark. It’s an unprecedented outpouring of goodwill never seen before in our living memories,” Salvation Army spokesman Pat Daley said.
Big businesses have pledged more, with Tabcorp leading the donations at 2 million dollars, followed by the country’s four big banks – ANZ, Commonwealth, National Australia and Westpac – which have contributed 1 million dollars each.
Other companies have also pledged hundreds of thousands of dollars to help the victims rebuild their homes engulfed by the bushfires which have so far killed more than 135 people.