The Vietnamese government has decided to donate 200,000 U.S. dollars to victims of a recent earthquake in China's southwestern Sichuan Province, local newspaper Saigon Liberation reported on Thursday.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has tasked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to coordinate with relevant agencies to conduct the donation.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Sichuan on Monday afternoon, killing at least 14,866 people, according to China's latest official statistics.

(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2008)