AFP - Barcelona striker Thierry Henry has made a 56,000-euro donation to French NGO Medecins sans Frontieres as a contribution to rescue efforts in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, his club said on Friday.

"Our striker has collaborated with Medecins sans Frontieres and has decided to give 56,000 euros to help the Haitian population," the Catalan club said on their website.

"I am very touched by this tragedy and it is very good that everybody should mobilise in order to help Haiti," Henry, the captain of France, told the club's television station.

"This touches me because almost 20 years ago something similar happened in (the French Caribbean island of) Guadeloupe and I know what the Haitians must be going through. I have many friends over there. Haiti is a former French colony and it's as if we are cousins.

"We must help them. I felt I should do something and that's why I have decided to make a donation to Medecins sans Frontieres," said the former Arsenal favourite.

According to UN figures the quake killed at least 75,000 and injured a further 250,000.

Henry's comments on Guadeloupe, from where his father hails, referred to Hurricane Hugo, which struck in 1989, killing 15 on the island and leaving some 20,000 people homeless.

The forward, who joined Barca in 2007, is one of Europe's best paid players with Spanish media putting his salary at around 7.5 millions euros a season.