STUDENTS, retired soldiers, business people, mothers with young children, old people accompanied by their children, overseas Chinese - the conference room of the Shanghai Red Cross Society has received hundreds of generous citizens since the beginning of this year.

All of these people came with one goal in mind - to donate for the victims of the Indian Ocean underwater earthquake and tsunami which has cost at least 150,000 lives so far.

"People rushed here from different corners of the city with the oldest aged more than 80 and the youngest ones still unborn, with mothers contributing money in the name of their babies-to-be," said Xiong Fangjie, executive vice-president of the Shanghai Red Cross Society.

"All donations collected in the city will ultimately be sent to the tsunami-struck countries through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies," said Xiong.

January 4, the first working day for most Shanghainese after the three-day New Year holiday, witnessed a "donation'' boom in the city.

On that morning alone, nearly 1,000 people went to the Red Cross to donate. "We have been busy receiving donors since December 31, 2004. Most of our 20-odd staff from other departments have had to be mobilized to deal with donation issues," said Tian Yongbo of the Red Cross, located in Beijing Xilu.

"One hundred, 200, 350 - 5,792.4 yuan (US$700)!" Liu Xinyun and her two schoolmates from local Huayu Middle School felt relieved as they saw the staff finishing the accounting of donations from the 1,200 students and teachers, raised for the Red Cross.

The school organized a charity auction at the end of last year and planned to help a Hope School. But after the tsunami happened, they decided to shift the donations to tsunami victims.

"There are some things we are unable to prevent, such as natural disasters, but we hope the help from Chinese students will bring hope to our peers in South Asia, and encourage them to step out of sadness," said Liu.

Although Liu Xiang, the Olympic Champion, is in training in Beijing, he asked his parents in Shanghai to donate an extra

50,000 yuan (US$6,053) to the Red Cross.

Upstairs at the hotline of the Red Cross three staff members were extremely busy. "The phones haven't stopped in recent days. We haven't even had time to drink water," said one worker, surnamed Teng.

"During holidays, about 90 per cent of those who called were individuals, but now enterprises and organizations are also accounting for a large share."

On the morning of January 4, as soon as the donation boxes had been set up in major business areas, transportation centres and other public places, people began queuing up to donate.

"I have been waiting here for over an hour, because this is the only place I know is collecting donations. It's a matter of humanity to help our neighbouring countries," said Ma Zhenjia, one of 20 retired soldiers in their 70's who gathered at Jing'an Temple Square.

"I happened to walk by and see the donation box. I regret that I have too little money with me," said Helen Guo, a tourist from the US who donated 300 yuan (US$36.32).

An old woman brought the donation for her husband, who just passed away. "This is his last wish I shall realize for him," the old woman told the Shanghai Star, refusing to tell her name.

One hour after a donation box had been placed by the society in the lobby of the Municipal Administration Building at Dagu Lu at 10 am that day, where half the city's municipal departments are gathered, more than 67,000 yuan (US$8,170) was collected.

The Red Cross collected over 2 million yuan (US$242,000) on January 4. And by that day, the "Tsunami Special Fund" of the Shanghai Charity Foundation had received a total of 1.255 million yuan (US$151,000) in donations from around the city.

The detailed figures for January 5 donations hadn't been released up to the press deadline of the Shanghai Star, but it was estimated to be even higher than the day before.

Besides donations, local medical institutes have sent two medical teams to tsunami-hit areas, including 11 young doctors and one nurse. Three doctors from Zhongshan Hospital have arrived in Thailand and immediately begun medical work.

On January 5, some 200 graduate students from the Medical School of Fudan University were being organized, ready to work in tsunami-hit areas.