Equipment makers provide tsunami aid.

Makers of heavy equipment have been providing help to areas of southern and Southeast Asia stricken by the late December earthquake and tsunamis that claimed as many as 280,000 lives.

Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, Ill., says its dealers in the Asia Pacific region "have made equipment, personnel and other resources available to aid in recovery and cleanup efforts. At the corporate level, Caterpillar is working with its dealers to make additional equipment available to government agencies and non-governmental agencies working in the region."

In a news release, the company says that it knows of no casualties among Caterpillar or dealership employees or their families in the region.

The Caterpillar Foundation has committed $1 million to ongoing relief and recovery efforts in the region. The contribution from the foundation will be divided between The International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, Oxfam and The Salvation Army 

Additionally, the company also announced that donations to relief efforts by Caterpillar employees, retirees, Caterpillar directors and employees of Caterpillar dealers will be matched by the company up to $2,000 per person.

Komatsu Ltd., the Tokyo-based parent company of Komatsu America Corp., Vernon Hills, Ill., has pledged about $2 million worth of aid, including a $200,000 cash donation to the Japanese Red Cross.

In conjunction with its local subsidiaries and distributors in Southeast Asia, Komatsu is also sending equipment and operators to assist with recovery efforts, according to a release from the company.

U.K.-based JCB Inc., with U.S. offices in Savannah, Ga., has announced it will send an initial $1 million worth of machines to help disaster relief efforts in the wake of the tsunami.

Five JCB backhoe loaders have been airlifted to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and other machines have been donated to Tamil Nadu, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

Sir Anthony Bamford, JCB chairman, says that earth moving equipment will be of paramount importance in the early stages of the relief effort in helping to remove debris. "The scale of the disaster is even bigger than we first anticipated," Bamford says. "We are doing everything we can to get the job done."

A charitable foundation affiliated with John Deere Construction & Forestry Co., Moline, Ill, has also announced a tsunami relief donation.

The John Deere Foundation, the philanthropic organization of Deere & Co., will provide $1 million to support ongoing relief and restoration efforts related to the Asian earthquake and tsunami disaster.

Foundation officials say the money will be provided for international relief efforts through the American Red Cross. "This disaster has touched all of us deeply as individuals," says Deere & Co. Chairman and CEO Robert W. Lane. "Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to all who have been affected by this unimaginable disaster." Lane also serves as vice president and a director of the John Deere Foundation.

Deere also has communicated to company employees information on how they can individually contribute to agencies working on the international effort to respond to the tragedy, including the American Red Cross and dozens of other organizations.

Deere & Co. officials have also noted that its business operations and employees in India--a joint venture manufacturing facility in Pune--were not harmed by the earthquake and tsunami.