Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-fat donate to quake relief

Hollywood stars Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-fat are headlining a string of Hong Kong celebrity donations to earthquake and tsunami relief efforts in southern Asia.

Kung fu king Chan pitched in 500,000 Hong Kong dollars (€47,000) to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) the group said in a statement.

Chan said the donation is small but he hopes it will prompt more people to give money.

“A token 500,000 is nothing for the disaster areas, but I want to have a spearheading effect,” he said at a cheque presentation ceremony.

Appealing for donations, Chan said: “The accumulation of droplets becomes a river.”

Chow, who starred in The Replacement Killers and Anna and the King, gave 200,000 Hong Kong dollars (€18,800) to a disaster relief fund set up by the Apple Daily, the mass-market paper reported today.

Also donating to the newspaper’s fund was Stephen Chow, who directed and starred in the comedy Shaolin Soccer.

Holidaying action star Jet Li and his family evacuated to Doha, Qatar after their hotel in the Maldives was swamped by tidal waves, the Apple Daily reported today, quoting a friend who was with Li.

Li reportedly injured his foot by knocking it against a piece of floating furniture as he protected his daughter from the waves.

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off Indonesia’s coast on Sunday, triggering tidal waves that hit the coastlines of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and as far as Somalia, killing more than 60,000.