March 17, 2011
SINGAPORE (AFP) - A Singaporean woman has donated Sg$1 million ($780,000), double the amount given by the Singapore government, to aid relief efforts in Japan, local reports and officials said Thursday.
The million-dollar cheque from Elaine Low was handed over to Japan's ambassador to Singapore, Yoichi Suzuki, on Wednesday, an official with the Japanese embassy told AFP.
Low, whose family runs an Indonesia-based coal mining business that imports equipment from Japan and also supplies coal to Japanese power plants, said she wanted to do her bit to help out the Japanese affected by the disaster.
"My family and I feel that it's an unfortunate disaster and wanted to offer our help," Low, 24, was quoted as saying in the Straits Times newspaper.
On Tuesday, the Singapore government launched a fund-raising drive for victims of Japan's killer earthquake and tsunami by giving the local Red Cross Sg$500,000 in seed money.
The official total of dead and missing on Japan's northeast coast has passed 13,000, police said Thursday.
The confirmed dead from Friday's twin disasters stood at 5,178, while the official number of missing remained at 8,606, the national police agency said in its latest update.
