The Chinese Red Cross Foundation (CRCF) has received an unprecedented 1.53 billion yuan (about US$223 million) worth of donations from home and abroad in 2008, with more than 90 percent for Sichuan quake relief purposes, a CRCF official has said.

Wang Rupeng, CRCF secretary-general, said on Tuesday the amount of the donation was nine times of the previous year's figure, dwarfing any other fund in terms of its annual donation collection.

Wang said 1.39 billion yuan went toward relief for the May 12 earthquake that left more than 87,000 people dead or missing and millions homeless. The rest was given to two charity programs that focused on medicare and education programs.

The foundation has forwarded 732 million yuan worth of donations, of which 642 million yuan was sent to the area battered by the massive earthquake.

Nearly 63 million yuan was used in a health care program that helped 7,800 children with diseases including leukemia, congenital heart diseases and cerebral palsy.

It also went toward treatment for impoverished patients with tumors.

The money was also used to set up 315 clinics and offer free training for 400 rural doctors, according to Wang.

Another 27 million yuan was used to build 17 primary schools, train 100 rural teachers, assist 107 poor university students and built 556 libraries in primary and middle schools in 2008.

CRCF had already helped to build 2,194 clinics, 194 schools and 1,112 libraries in rural areas by the end of 2008 and more than 6.9 million people have benefited from its programs.

(Xinhua News Agency January 27, 2009)