Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said Saturday it will offer assistance to the mainland's quake relief efforts.

SEF spokesman Ma Shaw-chang, who was in Sichuan Province when the quake happened, told Xinhua in a telephone interview that the foundation will help "in accordance with the severity of the disaster."

Ma is with a delegation led by SEF vice chairman and secretary general Kao Koong-lian.

Ma said the delegation is on its way back to Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan, and "everything is fine."

The delegation, visiting Taiwanese businesses in Chengdu and Chongqing, is scheduled to return to Taiwan on Sunday.

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan's Lushan county at 8:02 a.m. Saturday, and the death toll has risen to 71 so far, according to the China Earthquake Administration.

(Xinhua News Agency April 20, 2013)