The Macao-Timor Friendship Association and the representative of Timor-Leste at Forum Macao, Danilo Henriques, have started a drive to raise funds to help the victims of severe flooding in Timor-Leste, Lusa reports.

The Portuguese news agency quotes Mr Henriques as saying the people of Laclubar in central Timor-Leste’s Manatuto municipality need help urgently to buy food.

Floods there a month ago destroyed 111 dwellings and damaged over 230, disrupting the lives of 345 households in six villages, Lusa says.

This month the Timorese government said Cyclone Seroja had killed 40 people, made 12,400 homeless and caused damage estimated to cost US$100 million to fix when it struck Timor-Leste.

In response, the Chinese Embassy in Dili said the Chinese government had given Timor-Leste US$100,000 through the UN World Food Programme and that the Chinese Red Cross had given another US$100,000.