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Asia Pacific and Africa (APA) – It's been a tumultuous week in Southeast Asia, with a series of powerful storms and two major earthquakes wreaking havoc and extensive damage across the Philippines and Indonesia.
While Ford's operations in both countries have sustained minimal damage, many employees and their families have lost their homes. The company is meeting the widespread need for aid through generous donations from the Ford Fund and employee fundraising throughout the region.
Typhoon clean-up in the Philippines
On Saturday, typhoon Parma killed at least 15 people in the northern Philippines – just one week after tropical storm Ketsana left close to 300 dead. Typhoon Parma continues to hover over the South China Sea, and the weather bureau warns that the worst may not be over. Typhoon Melor, lying 2,000 kilometres to the east in the Pacific Ocean, could suck Parma back towards the country.
Despite the devastation, all Ford dealers are fully operational. As of October 5, Ford dealerships have received 316 units for servicing, and expect to receive many more in the coming days. Service personnel are working extended hours to speed up diagnosing and repair of vehicles.
“We foresee and are experiencing an increase of servicing appointments resulting from the devastating floods within the next days and weeks,” said Anika Salceda, Ford Group Philippines AVP for Corporate Communications. “We are confident that our team and dealer network can accommodate our customer's needs with the highest level of service and quality as expected.”
To support relief efforts and the movement of relief good, Ford has made units of Ranger, Wildtrak and Everest available to aid workers, including the Red Cross Laguna Chapter which is supported by the Ford in the Philippines Partner Pillar. The vehicles are being used by schools and donation sites to transport goods to areas that are difficult to access.
Ford employees are supporting the relief efforts by filling donation boxes in offices across APA and through generous cash donations. For details on how you can help, please click here.
Supporting earthquake victims in Indonesia
Two powerful earthquakes struck the Indonesia island of Sumatra last week, leaving more than 1000 people dead, and thousands more injured. On September 30, the first earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter Scale (RS) struck near Padang on the west coast of Central Sumatra. The next morning, a 6.8 RS earthquake struck further south.
The earthquakes were shallow and close to the mainland, causing extensive damage to buildings all along the west coast of Sumatra. Ensuing landslides made the situation considerably worse. Heavy rain in the area disaster area has hampered relief efforts, and increased the risk of further landslides.
Ford's dealers in the area have sustained only minor damage, and a check is being carried out on the wellbeing of all Ford dealer employees in Padang and the relatives of Ford Motor Indonesia (FMI) employees in the Central Sumatra region.
FMI is providing support to the affected area in the form of a USD20,000 donation from the Ford Fund. Additional support activities include a food, clothing and fund drive as well as the loan of a Ranger 4x4 to ACT (Care for Humanity) one of the key local volunteer organisations. Another 20 units of Ranger 4x4 have been loaned to local logistic and medical centres which are being coordinated by major media organisations such as Kompas Daily Newspaper and the National TV Station, which includes SCTV, Metro TV, TVRI, TV One, RCTI and TransTV.
Clean-up efforts start in Padang. |
Major damage in Padang. |
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