HONG KONG, July 24 (Xinhua) -- A grant of 4.477 million HK dollars (about 573,026 U.S. dollars) from Hong Kong's Disaster Relief Fund to an agency has been approved to help the cyclone victims in Odisha, India, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said here on Wednesday.

A HKSAR government spokesman said that the cyclone had affected more than 15 million people and caused severe damages to houses and public facilities in Odisha, India. The grant will be used to provide household and hygiene items as well as temporary shelter kits to benefit around 25,000 cyclone victims.

"To ensure that the money is used for the designated purposes, Habitat for Humanity Hong Kong will be asked to submit an evaluation report and an audited account on the use of the grant after the relief project has been completed," the spokesman said.

The grant, together with those approved earlier for this cyclone in Odisha, India, will take the accumulative value of grants to 16.983 million HK dollars (about 2.173 million U.S. dollars), and the number of beneficiaries would be 101,150.