The recent tsunami off the Indian coastal region claimed the lives of over 15,000 Indians and displaced over 6,46,500 people, according to news reports. Over 1,744 children lost both their parents, while 1,450 lost at least one parent. During this calamity, solution providers showed their mettle and voluntarily contributed to help the affected people. While it is not possible to list the efforts of all partner companies, DQ Channels attempts to appreciate some of them. And we have just one word for all partners who offered succor when it was needed most-BRAVO.

Vendors Says It With Their Deeds
Several leading vendors of the IT industry came together to provide resources to organizations working towards helping those affected by the tsunamis. Here is a list of a few of them.

• CA India's employees contributed over Rs 7 lakh for tsunami affected to Childline, an organization working for children rights and their betterment. They also sent medicines to Sri Lanka in response to a SOS sent by CA's business partners there. The vendor too contributed Rs 1 crore to the tsunami-affected areas.

DATACRAFT INDIA “All the employees of Datacraft India contributed a day's salary which came to a total of Rs 5,61,000. This sum was collected and deposited with the Prime Minister's Relief Fund. Datacraft Asia as a group contributed $80,000 to the Singapore Red Cross to provide much-needed supplies and funds to affected countries. Our parent company, Dimension Data, has donated another $200,000 to Unicef”  Nagendra Venkaswamy, MD, Datacraft India. Omnitech  “A few of us were unsure whether the funds that will be deducted from the salary of individual employees towards the tsunami relief would be utilized for the cause. Despite this skepticism, our employees contributed Rs 75,000 while the organization paid another Rs 25,000 to the Times of India Tsunami Relief fund.”  Atul Hemani, Director, Omnitech Infosolutions. Visesh Infotecnics  “All staff members of Visesh Infotecnics voluntarily contributed a sum of Rs 65,500, which is equivalent to one day's salary. This amount was collected and given to the Tsunami Relief through the Indian Red Cross Society.  Sanjiv Bhavnani, Managing Director, Visesh Infotecnics.  Frontier Business Systems “Frontier Business Systems managed to collect funds amounting to over Rs 1.5 lakh, which was then given to provide relief and help for those affected by this disaster.” Ravi Verdes, MD, Frontier Business Systems. Syntech Informatic  “We managed to collect Rs 10 lakh from our employees and Syntech's contribution. Since we had a servicing center in Port Blair, we sent our three engineers to this city. They carried supplies like food, medicine and clothing for the affected people there.” Milon Chakraborty, MD, Syntech Informatics.  Softcell Technologies “All our employees were willing to donate one day's salary towards tsunami relief. And we as a company would match that amount in contribution as well. However, we were informed that our employees would not get any tax benefits for their contribution. We are still working out details on how to disburse the funds and give our team the tax benefit as well.”  Ujwal Andhari, Director, Softcell Technologies. PC Solutions “We have contributed an amount of Rs 54,465 towards Tsunami relief. The funds were donated to the Prime Minister National Relief Fund through a charitable organization named 'Abyvam'. A lot of people in our company contributed on their personal level as well to different institutions.”  Devendra Taneja, MD, PC Solutions. Lauren Information technologies “Our employees contributed 1% of their salaries and Lauren matched the sum to collect Rs 50,000. We handed this to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.”  Sushant Panda, Director, Lauren Information Technologies.

• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) pledged Rs 2 crore to the Prime Minister's relief fund in financial support for relief and recovery efforts in the affected coastal areas. It was also closely monitoring developments in India and Southeast Asia to collaborate with governments, relief agencies, business partners, and non-government organizations to assist with rebuilding efforts.

• Samsung India Electronics Ltd under the 'Samsung Hope' umbrella put up a relief camp in Pondicherry to provide food, clothes, utensils and medicines urgently needed by the people rendered homeless. Additionally, all employees of the company contributed a day's salary towards this effort. Support came from its channel partners in the form of clothes, utensils and other utility articles in the Hope boxes kept at all Samsung branch sales offices across the country.

• Hitachi Global Storage Technologies promised to donate Rs 32,69,625 to UNICEF to assist in the relief efforts for victims of the disaster. This contribution will be in addition to donations being collected by its employees worldwide.

• Juniper Networks Foundation Fund donated Rs 43,58,499 to the American Red Cross International Disaster Response Fund to aid the victims. The donation was allocated through the Community Foundation Silicon Valley.

• Infosys Technologies announced a contribution of Rs 5 crore to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund to assist the victims. It is also actively supporting its employees' efforts across group companies globally, to make monetary and material contributions towards aid operations.

• Syntel partnered with the America India Foundation to donate nearly Rs 1 crore to aid tsunami relief efforts. Its employees donated a total of Rs 24,40,280 from their January salaries. The company then matched this to reach Rs 48,80,131.

• Legrand India adopted two villages, Reddiyar Pettai and Oyyali Kuppam in Tamil Nadu for rehabilitation. It will provide fishing nets and boats to the affected people to help them get back to the sea at the earliest. The vendor will also help repair and buy boats for the families whose boats have either got damaged or washed away.

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