Five satellite TV stations on the Chinese mainland will hold a charity telethon to raise funds for Taiwan victims of Typhoon Morakot on Thursday night, a TV source said on Wednesday.

Shanghai-based Dragon TV said it will jointly broadcast the live charity event in its Beijing studio at 7:35 p.m. with Jiangsu Satellite TV, Zhejiang Satellite TV, Hunan Satellite TV and Shenzhen Satellite TV.

The organizer will open 100 hotlines for donations during the four-hour TV special, "Love Across the Strait," featuring mostly by mainland pop stars.

The Chinese mainland has so far donated about 176 million yuan (US$26 million) and 25 million yuan worth of disaster relief materials to Typhoon Morakot-stricken Taiwan, said State Council Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Fan Liqing on Wednesday.

Morakot had killed at least 136 people in Taiwan as of noon Wednesday, and more than 500 villagers had been buried in mudslides. In addition, 386 were still missing and 45 were injured.

(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2009)