Your Source for Up-To-Date News and Research on the Collision Repair Industry
click here to subscribe to the FREE INSIGHT Editor's Desk News Alert Email
SUBSCRIBERS-ONLY
Today's News
INSIGHT This Month
INSIGHT Archives
Survey Center
Letter to the Editor
Business Tools
Subscription Information
CSI Reporting
Financial Analysis
IRS Audit Guide
Management/
Technical Info
Market Watch Rates
INSIGHT Inside this month's issue...
Feedback
Letter to the Editor
Friday February 18
BASF and Employees Donate $4.9 Million for Tsunami Relief
As of January 31, 2005, the employees of BASF worldwide have donated approximately $1.8 million to help the victims of the tsunami catastrophe in Asia. This amount will be matched by BASF. In addition, the company provided about $1.3 million in immediate aid in the direct aftermath of the disaster, bringing the total donation to approximately $4.9 million. The money has been made available for short-, medium- and long-term aid projects in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.Employees in North America donated $108,400 to Direct Relief International, the Mexican Red Cross or the Canadian Red Cross. With the company's match and some additional funds from the Canadian government, BASF's contribution from North America will amount to approximately $225,000.
BASF's immediate aid of $1.3 million will be used for the following projects in southern Asia:
- Indonesia: BASF donated two drinking water purification plants to the German government's disaster relief organization in order to rapidly secure a supply of clean water for the victims of the tsunami in Banda Aceh. In addition, BASF provided clothes, kitchen utensils, tents and medicine to several refugee camps.
- In Sri Lanka, BASF is supporting a project organized by "Habitat for Humanity" that will finance the construction of about 300 homes in the devastated areas. In the south of the country in particular, the tsunami has deprived many fishing families of their means of living. BASF is helping them by repairing several fishing boats.
- India: The victims will be individually helped in collaboration with the national relief fund of the Indian Prime Minister. The aim is to give the people a fresh start after the catastrophe.
- In Thailand, BASF is working with the Thai Red Cross to reconstruct a school, which at the same time plans to establish a long-term partnership between itself and BASF Thailand.
BASF employees in the Asia Pacific region also initiated numerous immediate aid measures:
- Employees in India and Pakistan, for example, donated one day's salary.
- In Indonesia, BASF's management provided authorities with blankets and medical supplies as first aid in the worst hit province of Aceh.
- BASF Indonesia took the lead in founding an aid organization "Indonesian-German Disaster Relief Committee" (INDOGERM-direct), which will above all help to coordinate donations, post-trauma rehabilitation of victims and reconstruction of buildings and infrastructure.
- In Thailand, employees donated money, clothing and food for the inhabitants of the crisis zones.
- Employees in Sri Lanka sent dry food rations to the eastern part of the country, and families who lost their houses in the east and south of the country received support in a variety of forms.
Employees from BASF companies worldwide played an active role in helping the flood victims. In Germany, the "BASF-Katastrophenhilfe e.V.," a disaster help fund founded by employees of BASF, has provided donations for special aid projects in the devastated areas. The medium- and long-term aid projects are currently being coordinated with various partners in order to achieve lasting support for the victims.
"The overwhelming response to the appeal for donations shows that BASF's employees think globally and that efforts to help the tsunami victims do not stop at national borders," said Dr. Jurgen Hambrecht, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors for BASF.
©2005 Collision Repair Industry INSIGHT
All Rights Reserved
FEATURED
LINKS:
INSIGHT Supports the NABC!
Do You?