The lion's share of the donations were through the campaign 'Juntos por Portugal' (Together for Portugal), which is made up of over 30 associations in New Jersey, and which raised $202,000 through various events.

The president of Newark social club Sport Clube Português, Jack Costa, who has led the initiative, told Lusa that the campaign "is working with the Pedrógão Grande council to obtain the official list of people who have lost their first home" so that it can hand over the funds.

Costa said that "a group of people from the organisation will go to Portugal to hand over the funds directly, with no intermediary."

In the state of New York, meanwhile, $106,000 was raised, with the largest amount coming from Farmingville residents, with the support of the Portuguese American Center of Suffolk, which gathered $50,000.

Other funds came from the company Big Apple Supply, with the support of the Alheirense Cultural Center in Mineola, of the New York Academia de Bacalhau (Codfish Academy), of the organisation Daughters of Portugal, and from the New York Portuguese American Leadership Conference (NYPALC).

Further south, in Florida, a campaign in Palm Coast raised $30,000.

"Like all Portuguese, we woke up that weekend and decided that we had to help," said Costa. "We realised that we had to coordinate the help and I contacted the leaders of the associations in the state of New Jersey for us to work together."

In other US states, associations also organised fund-raising events.

According to Portugal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, all funds should be sent through the Ministry of Internal Administration, which is coordinating efforts.