PORTLAND (AP) — Donations to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita set a record for response by Portland residents to natural disasters, the local chapter of the American Red Cross said.

The agency has received $10.2 million in donations to aid hurricane victims, said Mary Miller, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Trail chapter of the Red Cross.

The previous record was $2 million in donations in the first six weeks after a tsunami struck southeast Asia in December 2004.

The local chapter or the Red Cross also received $2 million in the first year after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and $155,000 to aid victims of all the hurricanes during 2004, Miller said.

The local Red Cross chapter typically processes about 12,000 gifts a year, but it received 20,000 donations for hurricane relief in three months, she said.

“We did not have to spend considerable time begging for money,” Miller said.

The Oregon Trail chapter serves Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Clatsop, Columbia, Tillamook and Yamhill counties.

National Red Cross officials said its five Oregon chapters received a total of $14.9 million in hurricane relief donations. Red Cross chapters in Washington state received $46.9 million in donations.

Other agencies also reported record-setting donations in Portland.

Dennis Keenan, executive director of Catholic Charities in Portland, said his agency received about $958,000 in hurricane relief donations, almost five times the amount about $200,000 given to Catholic Charities in response to the tsunami.

“People have been remarkably generous,” Keenan said. “It’s pretty inspiring. There was a sense of a kind of pent-up generosity that people had.”