Help On The Way

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German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG, which has units in India and Thailand, says it will spend up to €2.5 million rebuilding hard-hit villages in Madras, India, and near Khao Lak beach in Phuket, Thailand. The company will also build an orphanage in each country and secure financing for the psychological care of youngsters there. "We want to show that we feel connected to these countries in which we have been active for decades," says ThyssenKrupp CEO Ekkehard Schulz. British American Tobacco's Sri Lankan division, Ceylon Tobacco Company, has pledged to rebuild a destroyed village, too. British American Tobacco plans to announce a substantial cash contribution to the relief drive this week.

Companies whose products or services are desperately needed in affected countries — from drugmakers to utility companies — have come forward with in-kind contributions. French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis' CEO Jean-François Dehecq personally made one such delivery. He and French Health Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy accompanied 70,000 cases of antibiotic, antibacterial and antidiarrheal drugs on an aid flight to Sri Lanka. Sanofi is donating a further €1 million to relief charities.

Sanofi-Aventis' British competitor GlaxoSmithKline, which lost two vacationing employees in the disaster, is giving $3.8 million and more than 2 million doses of drugs, and is prepared to donate 600,000 vials of vaccines to relief operations. Swedish truckmaker Scania — whose country may have suffered Europe's highest death toll in the

	We want to show that we feel connected to these countries in which we have been active for decades — EKKEHARD SCHULZ CEO, ThyssenKrupp

disaster: 52 known dead and 637 still missing — donated five trucks and made equipment loans and other contributions valued at $2 million, all of which went to Indonesia for reconstruction in northern Sumatra. "This is a big catastrophe for people living in the region and it's our way of showing our involvement," says Scania chief financial officer Jan Gurander.

Mobile-phone company Vodafone Group donated $1.7 million to relief groups, and $187,000 to Télécoms sans Frontières, which installs mobile networks in areas blighted by disaster and war, and MapAction, which performs satellite mapping to facilitate logistical support. French electricity company EDF gave €1 million to relief charities as well as in-kind support to Electriciens sans Frontières, which is sending 15 electricians and more than 50 diesel-fueled generators to help restore power in Sumatra and Sri Lanka.

Aid groups have been heartened by the outpouring of corporate generosity. Oxfam International's British chapter has been so overwhelmed by donations that it's still counting the money. "The response this time from corporations has been much larger than usual," says spokeswoman Anna Mitchell. But with the tsunami-torn countries facing a long, slow, painful recovery, Oxfam and other groups hope this first wave of help won't be the last.