International aid for tsunami-hit regions continued to pour in Tuesday as more countries sent relief goods or made donation calls.

Several Chinese organizations and institutions have scheduled charity activities for the next few days to raise money for the tsunami victims, while the Chinese government on Tuesday donated 100,000 US dollars to Somali for disaster relief in the Horn of Africa country hit hard by the tsunami.

Also on Tuesday the Chinese government sent a cargo plane with disaster-relief materials worth of 905,000 dollars on board to Thailand. China also donated a check of 300,000 dollars, adding China's aid for Thailand to a total of 1.2 million dollars.

Besides, two medical groups and a team of forensic experts fromChina have been working in Thailand's worst-hit province of Pangnga to help local relief efforts. In Sri Lanka's disaster-hit town of Hikkaduwa, a 14-member Chinese medical team started its aid work Tuesday.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will donate 1 milliondollars, it said on its website Tuesday.

The European Union (EU) is to hold a special meeting Friday for assessing its aid to tsunami-hit countries, a press release said in Brussels on Tuesday.

The United States plans to double the number of its helicoptersbeing provided for the disaster relief efforts to 90, said the US military Tuesday.

Meanwhile, outgoing US Secretary of State Collin Powell who is visiting tsunami-hit regions in Asia, pledged US help for establishing an early warning system in the region.

Britain proposed Tuesday to the main creditor countries that repayments of foreign debts owed by the tsunami-hit countries should be postponed and reduced.

The plan has gained support from the United States and discussions are underway with other countries including France, Germany, Italy and Japan, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown told BBC radio.

Meanwhile, public donations from Britons have reached 76 million pounds (about 144 million dollars), said the Disasters Emergency Committee, the umbrella group of British charities. The figure is expected to top 100 million pounds (about 189 million dollars), it said.

The German government plans to radically increase its aid to tsunami-hit countries to 500 million euros (666 million dollars), a government official speaking on condition of anonymity Tuesday. The German government will make the decision at its cabinet meeting Wednesday, he said.

Donations by the Australian public reached nearly 85 million Australian dollars (66.3 million dollars) Tuesday and are expectedto exceed 100 million dollars (78 million dollars) next week, the Australian Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Canada's first two relief agency flights are leaving for tsunami-stricken Indonesia on Tuesday and Wednesday ferrying aid workers and more than 125,000 kg of relief supplies, said Air Canada spokeswoman Laura Cooke on Tuesday.

The Norwegian government granted another 1 billion NOK (165 million dollars) in emergency aid to the tsunami-hit South-East Asia, the Norwegian Broadcasting reported on Tuesday. Meanwhile, private aid organizations have so far received nearly 300 million NOK (49.5 million dollars) from the nationwide fund-raising campaign.

Saudi Arabia announced Tuesday it will add another 20 million dollars to its aid to tsunami-hit Asian countries, bringing the total number to 30 million dollars, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

South Korea decided to increase its aid to 50 million dollars, the prime minister's office announced Tuesday.

The government also plans to help the private civic organizations to mobilize a massive fundraising campaign for the victims of the disaster.

The Danish government is to send a 75-bed mobile hospital to Meulaboh of Sumatra, Indonesia, the Ritzau news bureau reported Tuesday.

The hospital, requested by the World Health Organization, will be accompanied by a support group of seven people including two doctors and two nurses.

The government is also considering sending four small Fennec transport helicopters for relief work as well as the civilian transport ship "Tor Anglia," which the defense department had already chartered.

A Portuguese plane with 40 tons of medical materials and a nine-member medical team on board headed for tsunami-hit Indonesia on Tuesday, said the Portuguese Foreign Ministry.

A donation campaign, named "Operation Rebirth" and initiated byPortuguese Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes, will be launched Friday to collect more money from the Portuguese public for tsunami-hit victims, said Foreign Minister Antonio Monteiro on Tuesday.

An earthquake, with a magnitude of 8.7 on the Richter scale according to China's State Seismological Bureau, hit at 06:58 a.m.local time (0058 GMT) on Dec. 26, 2004, off the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

It was followed by a tsunami that swept across the coastal countries of the Indian Ocean rim, wiping off villages and killingmore than 140,000 people. It is estimated that more than 1.8 million people in the tsunami-hit regions need food aid and 5 million others have been made homeless.