The Telegraph & Argus's South Asian Quake Appeal Fund has soared past the £20,000 mark - thanks to a generous donation from Bradford's Sikh community.

The Guru Gobind Singh Sikh temple has raised an amazing £4,000 to put the T&A appeal past £20,000.

The cash was raised thanks to the generosity of worshippers at the Gurdwara, based just off Leeds Road, in two separate collections on consecutive Sundays.

More than 300 people contributed to the total.

The temple's president Ranbir Singh Rai said Bradford's Sikh community wanted to help the victims of the earthquake in their hour of need.

He said: "It does not matter if you are Sikh, Muslim or Christian.

"We are all brothers and sisters and if anybody has a problem then we have to look after each other.

"The money was collected from the congregations on two Sundays.

"People were handing over as much as £100, just on the spur of the moment, and I was very pleased to see it.

"There was a lot of respect shown for the people who have lost families

because of this disaster.

"I would like to thank the committee of the temple and the whole congregation."

Harbans Singh Khaira, former general secretary at the temple, said: "There was so much in the way of loss of life.

"We are all living in the community together and it is important that we join together at this time.

"I think that the T&A appeal represents this coming together of the city."

Members of the temple presented the T&A's deputy editor Catherine O'Connor with the cheque.

She said: "The people who attend the Guru Gobind temple have shown wonderful generosity raising money to help those whose lives have been devastated by the earthquake.

"We are immensely grateful that they have decided to contribute the funds to the T&A's appeal."

Earlier this year Bradford's Sikh community raised £27,000 for the victims of the Boxing Day tsunami disaster in south-east Asia.

The donation is the latest in a series of philanthropic gestures from Bradford's communities to aid the millions of people whose lives have been plunged into tragedy following the earthquake on October 10.

And the total looks set to keep climbing and climbing. Omar Khan, who owns Omar Khan's restaurant in Bradford, is organising a dinner for more than 400 people in December from which he hopes to generate more than £50,000 for the T&A appeal.