UPDATED: A fundraising event which was held yesterday for traders affected by last week’s fire at Footscray’s Little Saigon market has raised almost $6,500.

Fire investigators have confirmed a fault in the electrical switchboard caused the blaze which gutted the iconic market in Melbourne’s west last Tuesday.

It’s estimated to have caused more than $12 million in damage.

The community event which featured entertainment and fundraising activities – with red packet trees, a chopstick challenge, raffles, silent auctions – raised a total of $6482.05.

The money raised will now go into the council fund and later distributed to the affected traders who are unable to work through the holiday period.

Labour MP for Gellibrand Tim Watts helped organised the event. He told Tivi Tuan-san the event was the result of community unity.

“The community in Footscray has been really moved by the tradgedy by the fire of Little Saigon and I had a stream of members of the community coming to me saying what are we going to do for the traders who’ve lost so much in the lead up to Christmas and in the lead up to Lunar New Year,” he said.

“We thought that a community fundraiser just around the corner from Little Saigon was the best thing we could do to show the community support for the traders after this tragedy.”

“Little Saigon and the traders there are really symbolic of what makes Footsray great,” Mr Watts added, “They’re a part of our community identity.”

“[The Little Saigon maker] is a bustling place and it’s somewhere where the whole community comes together over something we share a passion for and that’s food.”

“It’s something that means a lot to locals an event like this is a way to show the significance of it to the community.”

– TiVi Tuan-san