US business sector, individuals offer huge donations for hurricane victims

The US business sector and individual Americans acted quickly to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, as private donations have already exceeded 130 million US dollars, according to local news reports.

Members of the US Chamber of Commerce, mostly industrial and commercial organizations, have promised as much as 100 million dollars, and more pledges are coming in Thursday.

Millions of individual Americans responded to donation calls from large charity organizations, as the American Red Cross has already collected over 21 million dollars, mostly via telephones and websites.

The Salvation Army also took in several million dollars in on- line and telephone donations.

Oil industry giant Chevron promised 5 million dollars and entertainment company Walt Disney 2.5 million, and ExxonMobil another 2 million.

Many other companies offered direct aid. Auto maker Nissan sent about 50 vehicles to the storm-stricken area for use by rescuers.

Beer brewery Anheuser-Busch shipped over 800,000 bottles of water and food producer Kelloggs is sending truckloads of biscuits.

Local media compared the outpour of support with that for the victims of last December's tsunami in Southeast Asia, which killed well over 200,000 people.

Source: Xinhua