Special report: Strong Earthquake Jolts SW China

China's national flag flies at half-mast in front of the building of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao Special Administrative Region in Macao, south China, May 19, 2008. China on Monday begins a three-day national mourning for the tens of thousands of people killed in a powerful earthquake which struck southwest China's Sichuan province on May 12. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    MACAO, May 19 (Xinhua) -- On Monday afternoon, people in Macao paid a three-minute silent tribute to the victims of the Sichuan earthquake, and local cars and ships sounded their horns in the nationwide mourning.

    Local officials, residents and tourists, who gathered at the Leal Senado Square, a local World Heritage site, stood in silence from 2:28 p.m. to 2:31 p.m. to mourn the victims.

    Some 3,000 students and teachers of the local Hou Kong Middle school bowed their heads in silent mourning at the playground, as similar scenes were seen in many other local schools.

    "Today we mourn with deep grief for our compatriots who died in the Sichuan earthquake," Chief Executive of the SAR, Ho Hau Wah, said at a forum held here Monday morning.

    As of 12:00 a.m. Monday, the death toll rose to 34,073 and injuries reached 245,108 in the 8-magnitude quake that rocked China's southwestern Sichuan Province.

    Ho also called upon the city's people to continue their " generous" donations to the quake victims and noted that besides lowering flags at half-mast in the SAR's public buildings and schools, all public entertainment and shows will be called off during the three-day nationwide mourning period.

    Most of the local newspapers' front pages went black-and-white in Monday's editions, to mourn the victims.

    Some of Macao's casinos also stopped operations for the three-minute mourning, but local gaming magnate Stanley Ho, who owns most of the city's casinos, said Sunday that it would be difficult for his company to halt running business for three days. Ho donated 10 million HK dollars (around 1.25 million U.S. dollars) for the earthquake relief work.

    Combining the public donations received by the Liaison Office and the Macao Red Cross and the funds allocated by the SAR government, Macao has collected over 200 million patacas (25 million U.S. dollars) for the quake relief.

    An Air Macao freight aircraft, carrying 12 tons of relief supplies, arrived at the Chengdu's Shuangliu International Airport Sunday afternoon, capital of China's quake-hit Sichuan Province. This was Macao's first batch of humanitarian aid to quake victims.

    The supplies were collected by the Union of the General Associations of Neighborhood Associations of Macao (UGAMM) and the Macao Red Cross. They will be initially delivered to Sichuan's Ya'an City after the aircraft arrived at Chengdu's Shuangliu International Airport.

    The Macao Red Cross will continue raising funds and collecting supplies to deliver the next batch of aid as soon as possible, according to the Macao Red Cross.

    The chief executive officer of Air Macao, Fei Hourng Jiun, also said that his airline would continue supporting Macao's quake relief efforts by providing more free flights to Sichuan. The airline has helped airlift 20 tons of relief supplies in a free cargo flight from Taiwan to Chengdu last week.