CASE STUDIES - Tsunami appeal

Tsunami appeal

The December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami united the whole world in a compassionate relief effort. Although not related to risk reduction, as a business we were compelled to take action to assist. Many of our people across Australia volunteered their time in the very first days of the emergency.

In Sydney, large contingents of volunteers worked through lunch breaks to help the Red Cross keep up with data entry recording donations.

In Melbourne, volunteers assisted World Vision and helped with the fundraising cricket match between Asia and The Rest of the World held in January 2005. Also, data entry volunteers helped Oxfam record donations and a great deal of this work was done after hours on our premises, which were also kept open on weekends, to fast track the process.

Krysty, a Training Manager in Personal Insurance in Victoria, organised our Melbourne tsunami support, "Everyone was so committed to helping out. We had people who worked three entire Saturdays. Others stayed back after work, or came in early to help," she said.

In Queensland, our volunteers hit the streets to fundraise for the Red Cross in its door-knocking campaign. Through employee donations and company matching, we donated $750,649 to benefit the victims of the tsunami.