Hong Kong people have not been stingy in making donations, but most give to relief efforts on the mainland rather than those overseas.
World Vision, Oxfam and Unicef, the three major international relief agencies, together collected $219.5 million from SAR residents in the 1998-99 financial year, the last year in which figures were available for all three agencies.
World Vision in Hong Kong gave 58 per cent of its relief money to the mainland alone, while Oxfam gave 36 per cent.
The percentages included SAR government funds, but these accounted for less than seven per cent of the total. The rest of the money was farmed out to foreign countries on the two agencies' relief lists.
Public donations to Unicef amounted to $55 million and $53.7 million in 1998-99 and 1999-2000 respectively, but there is no separate figure for the mainland as its office in Hong Kong transferred all donation money to its United Nations headquarters before redistribution.
A World Vision spokesman said: 'There is a feeling of a closer bond with people on the mainland, which may partly account for a higher level of donation to people across the border.' Associate director of the Chinese University's Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Professor Lau Siu-kai, said international humanitarianism was not widespread among Hong Kong people.
