Coordination Key to Relief Efforts' Success; American Corporations Donating Supplies, Services
LIN: After the tsunami, many immigrants right here in the United States scrambled to learn the fate of family and loved ones still living in the stricken areas. Ray Sayah of CNN affiliate WXYZ explains the disaster also mobilized friends and relatives to send aid and to send it fast.</s>RAY SAYAH, WXYZ REPORTER (voice-over): When pictures of the devastation on the southern shores of India hit television airwaves, Chandra Narayanan immediately reached for the phone.</s>CHANDRA NARAYANAN, FAMILY SURVIVED TSUNAMI: We tried and tried and tried, and finally we got hold of them and then we found that they are all OK.</s>SAYAH: Chandra's family is OK, but the Detroit resident says thousands of his countrymen in India desperately need help. So with Pontiac's Parashaki (ph) Temple, Chandra and his 3,000 fellow Hindu devotees are mobilizing, raising money for the biggest relief effort in history.</s>NARAYANAN: We are planning to send right away from our fund some money.</s>SAVAKOMAR SUBBARATHANAM, TEMPLE PRIEST: A human being has to help other human beings. It's a basic birth rite.</s>SAYAH: Help from southeastern Michigan is coming from the medical community, as well. The folks at Dr. Gary Renard's clinic in Rochester Hills plan to ship over sample medicines that often sit inside offices and are never used.</s>SHIRLEY KNOBLOCK, WORKS AT CLINIC: It's an excellent idea.</s>SAYAH: Dr. Renard's office is asking other local doctors to do the same.</s>KNOBLOCK: They need these antibiotics. They need disposable gloves. They need anything disposable, you know, garbage bags, anything that's going to help them clean up the devastation that's gone on over there.</s>O'BRIEN: That from our affiliate WXYZ. Thank you. Corporations are using their profits for philanthropy. Companies from around the world are donating millions in relief aid to tsunami victims. CNN's Allan Chernoff joining us live from New York with the details. I assume this is about more than a little bit more than a tax write off, Allan.</s>ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Most definitely, Miles. Of course, these companies are building some good will, but they are responding, of course, to a very urgent crisis, and American companies taking a lead here. By our calculation, they have already committed well over $60 million. And that number certainly to go far higher. Pharmaceutical companies have been among the leaders here. Pfizer, first of all, saying it's going to give $10 million to relief organizations, and it's giving $25 million worth of medicines and supplies, including many antibiotics. Abbott Labs providing $2 million in cash, plus $2 million worth of supplies, and they produce products that fight dehydration. That is especially critical right now. Johnson & Johnson, back when we were at AmeriCares several days ago, one of the relief organizations, we saw Johnson & Johnson cotton balls there, sanitary sponges. These all donations already made by J&J.; And Bristol Myers Squibb offering more than $1 million. Corporate donations, some of the biggest companies in the world, ExxonMobil, for example, saying it will give $5 million, and that includes donations by employees. Citigroup, $3 million, Wal-Mart, $2 million over there. And many of the transportation companies are offering their own services. Northwest Airlines, for example, runs a cargo airline. It's a subsidiary. And they are committing to provide two 747s full of supplies. They'll be shipping, in fact, for that organization we mentioned, AmeriCares. This is 200 tons. Now, Altria, the parent of Philip Morris, formerly known as Philip Morris, they paid for the first shipment from AmeriCares that actually left Amsterdam yesterday and should already be in Sri Lanka right now, hopefully making its way to some of the victims. And we also have word from FedEx that they'll be providing shipments for six relief organizations. So many of the major corporations in the U.S. chipping in right now -- Miles.</s>O'BRIEN: You know, Allan, we've been talking so much how important the coordination is in all this. And as I think about all these companies trying to do their level best to do what they can, who's coordinating all that?</s>CHERNOFF: Well, a lot of it is being done with the individual relief organizations. Many of these companies have established relationships, and so that certainly helps to expedite all of this relief. Northwest, for example, says that it has worked with AmeriCares in the past. So they pick up the phone. They know exactly to whom they need to speak and right away, they can get things going. So fortunately, much of this relief has been moving out pretty quickly.</s>O'BRIEN: All right. Fortunately it's a well-worn path in this case. Allan Chernoff, thanks for your time. Imagine the tsunami. Imagine being underwater at the time. I mean, of all the stories we've heard, this one is something.</s>LIN: It is pretty amazing.</s>O'BRIEN: I mean, I just keep -- I amazed, I'm shocked, I'm saddened all day long. The tsunami hit and it passed right over some of these people. One couple has lived to tell this amazing tale.</s>LIN: Yes, it's like surfacing in a horror movie. And only on CNN, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us what relief workers are doing right now to help the workers in Sri Lanka.