Connected through tragedy: communications are critical in an emergency. The tsunami disaster was no different, but this time it was the bloggers who stepped forward to break news and link needy communities with donors. Meanwhile, the debate continues about how to set up tsunami warning systems

Telecom Asia, Feb, 2005 by Robert Clark

Samsung (S. Korea): $3m, plus doctors from Samsung Medical Centers, staff participation in relief efforts.

Siemens (Germany): More than 1m euros in financial aid (announced Dec 30), plus medical equipment and technical assistance from Siemens telecoms, water and power engineers.

SingTel (Singapore): S$200,000 ($121,000) donation, S$860,000 from donation hotlines, sponsored satellite phones, airtime to YMCA and Red Cross; 5,000 phonecards for foreign nationals in Singapore to call home.

SmartBridges (Singapore): 802.11b fixed wireless access systems to Indonesian ISP Afjii.

Telecom NZ (NZ): IDD fees waived for calls to affected countries.

Telstra (Australia): A$1m ($770,000) in cash plus matching donations to Red Cross, Care Australia, Unicef, Oxfam and World Vision. Directories subsidiary Sensis has committed A$100,000 plus matching donations. Waiving of toll-free line charges for aid agencies.

TSFI (Telecoms Sans Frontieres--ITU): Small, dedicated telecom relief agency with staff and satellite equipment deployed in most affected areas.

Vodafone Group (UK): 1m pounds ($1.87m) to Red Cross and Red Crescent, UK Disasters Emergency Committee, TSFI and MapAction (NGO which supplies real-time maps of disaster-affected areas).

Wataniya Telecom (Kuwait): 24 tons of medical and humanitarian aid to the Maldives.

ZTE (China): $2.5 million in mobile equipment and handsets to affected areas in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia.