Hong Kong responds generously after latest Sichuan earthquake

Hong Kong is responding quickly with help for the victims of the Sichuan earthquake.

Major non-governmental organisations sent staff to the affected area to assess the situation and are mobilising supplies and resources.

"There are extensively damaged buildings here, fallen roofs and walls," Eleanor Lam of the Hong Kong Red Cross said by telephone from Longmenxiang, a badly hit area with no electricity or water supplies and where an estimated 99 per cent of buildings were destroyed.

"We are liaising with the Red Cross in Lushan and in Chengdu, and emergency supplies will be sent over shortly."

Lam said most people had lost their homes and were camping out in the open. Ambulances were transporting the seriously wounded away as Lam approached the town.

Those left had suffered only minor injuries "from falling bricks or debris", she said.