BRITONS moved by the scale of the Asian tsunami disaster pledged record amounts to the international relief effort last night as United Nations officials warned half-a-billion pounds was needed to head off an even bigger catastrophe.

People who were moved by the sight of the devastation dug deep to help - and prompted the Government to boost its contribution from £15m to £50m.

They were joined by Britain's footballers and cricket heroes, who also pledged to do their bit.

Aid agencies said people were donating about £500,000 an hour, taking the total last night to £25m.

Retailers also responded. Marks and Spencer stores across the North-East put out Red Cross collection buckets, and customers donated thousands of pounds. Some shoppers made special trips just to give money. Donations of £50 notes were not unusual.

Volunteers in charity shops said they had been heartened by the response.

A spokeswoman at the Oxfam branch in Darlington said: "A little girl came in with her £5 pocket money and we've also had donations of £60 and £100 from people.

"We give them receipts and bank the cash, and all of it goes to the appeal."

Kay Lewis, manager of the British Red Cross shop in Richmond, North Yorkshire, said: "We always have the capability for people to come in and donate to appeals, and this is no different.

"We've got posters on the walls and we expect this appeal will be going for quite a while."

Tesco stores around the region last night invited British Red Cross to hold a collection in all its stores on the weekend of January 8 and 9. The charity is asking for as many volunteers as possible to help.

Along with the in-store collections, Tesco also gave £100,000 to the British Red Cross in the first days after the disaster.

Carol Bennett, area fundraising manager for the North-East and Cumbria, said: "This gives us an unequalled opportunity to ask the British people for help, and to add to the total already raised by the Red Cross for this very special appeal."

Middlesbrough and Newcastle United are among England's Premiership football clubs which are jointly donating £1m to the relief effort.

All 20 clubs pledged £50,000 to the Disaster Emergency Committee, which is co-ordinating the relief effort.

It follows a donation of £15,000 to the relief fund by the England cricket team.

The Premier League also announced that a minute's silence would be held by all the Premiership clubs, which had not already done so this weekend, as a mark of respect to the victims of the disaster.

Chief executive Richard Scudamore said: "I think everyone has been taken aback by the sheer enormity of events following the Indian Ocean earthquake.

"The Premier League and our clubs have strong connections throughout the region, and there was a feeling among the clubs that we should do something as a collective to try to alleviate some of the pain and suffering that is so evident across those areas affected by the tsunami."

The Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, said: "I urge everyone to donate whatever they can, as soon as they can, to provide essential life-giving services. Every single gift will help."

With almost 130,000 people confirmed dead, the UN warned that up to five million people lacked access to the basic supplies they needed to stay alive.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) described the tsunami as the worst natural disaster in the region for several decades, and the United Nations said about £500m was needed immediately.

Meanwhile, the confirmed British death toll stood at 28, although officials admitted that the number of UK nationals still unaccounted for could be in the hundreds.

Although relief teams and supplies were pouring into coastal areas around the Indian Ocean, aid has still yet to reach some of the hardest-hit and most remote areas.

Clean water, shelter, food, sanitation and health care are urgently needed to avoid an even bigger humanitarian disaster caused by disease.

Dr David Nabarro, head of crisis operations at WHO, said: "Unless the necessary funds are urgently mobilised and co-ordinated in the field, we could see as many fatalities from diseases as we have seen from the actual disaster itself. The tsunami was not preventable, but preventing unnecessary deaths and suffering is."

Announcing a £50m donation, International Development Secretary Hilary Benn said Britain had given more than any other single country to the emergency appeal.

* http://www.thisisthenortheast. co.uk/tsunami.html