HONG KONG, Aug. 20 -- China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)government has approved two grants from the Disaster Relief Fund totaling 9.38 million HK dollars ( about 1.2 million U.S. dollars) to two agencies for providing relief to earthquake victims in Yunnan province on the Chinese mainland.

It said Wednesday that the approval came after it had accepted the advice of the Disaster Relief Fund Advisory Committee.

A government spokesman said the earthquake disaster in Yunnan earlier this month had resulted in heavy casualties and extensive damage, and many victims are in dire need of emergency relief to tide them over the present difficulties.

The committee hopes with the two grants dedicated for providing relief to the earthquake victims in Yunnan, 6.31 million HK dollars will go to the Amity Foundation and 3.07 million HK dollars to the World Vision Hong Kong to facilitate the provision of timely relief to the victims and help them to restore their normal life.

Also on the advice of the committee, the HKSAR government approved another grant of 4.5 million HK dollars to the World Vision Hong Kong and 1.02 million HK dollars to Oxfam Hong Kong for the provision of relief to the flood victims in the southern mainland including Hunan, Guizhou and Guangxi provinces.

"To ensure that the money would be used for the designated purposes, the relief agencies would be asked to submit evaluation reports and audited accounts on the use of the grants after the relief projects have been completed," the spokesman said.