Chinese expatriates in Italy on Thursday donated money to help the affected people in the tsunami-devastated South and Southeast Asian countries.

In the Italian capital of Rome, Chen Shaomin, representing all Chinese people there, handed over a 31,000-euro (about 40,000 US dollars) check to Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, expressing the hope that the local government will soon deliver the money to the Asian countries.

Veltroni hailed the efforts by the Chinese in Rome, adding that the aid money will be used to build four schools in the worst hit countries.

In a related development, Xie Feiru, director of the Chinese Women's Association in Austria, told Xinhua Thursday in Vienna that the Austrian Chinese, especially women, have made their own efforts to help the tsunami-hit areas.

The association received over 500 euros (about 650 dollars) on the first day it made a donation appeal and many Chinese women in remote areas of Austria called to offer their donations, Xie said.

According to officials of the Chinese embassy in Austria, other Chinese associations in Austria also delivered their aid by other means to the tsunami-hit nations.

So far, over 150,000 people have been killed in the Dec. 26 tsunamis that swept across the Asian countries in the Indian Ocean rim. The tsunamis triggered by a huge earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia, were so powerful that ripple effects were felt in some of the African countries.