KUCHING: AirAsia has joined hands with United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) to help raise RM438 million (US$128 million) for relief efforts for children and families in Haiti which is a part of Unicef’s 2010 Haiti Earthquake Children’s Appeal.
The tragedy, which struck in the late afternoon of Jan 12 is believed to be the worst in the region in more than 200 years, killed over 100,000 of the population — with the number expected to rise — and caused massive destruction to property.
AirAsia has established a dedicated link on its website where guests can contribute to Unicef’s cause by visiting www.airasia.com, and clicking on the link to make donations by credit card.
In a statement issued from Kuala Lumpur, AirAsia Group chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Tony Fernandes said: “The AirAsia family wanted to help when we first heard about the tragedy in Haiti.”
“We are proud to work with UNICEF in this effort. Our prayers go out to the people of Haiti in this time of tragedy.”
For Unicef, AirAsia’s contribution and support signifies the airline’s commitment to provide relief assistance to the earthquake victims.
Representative to Unicef Malaysia & Special Representative to Brunei Darussalam, Youssouf Oomar said they thanked AirAsia for coming forward and supporting UNICEF’s ‘2010 Haiti Earthquake Children’s Appeal’ in Malaysia via their website.
“It is hard to overstate how urgent this emergency has become, which is why we need all the help we can get.
“You can be confident that every ringgit you give to Unicef will go farther to save more children in Haiti,” said Youssouf.
United Nations launched an appeal for RM1.9 billion on Jan 15 to facilitate humanitarian operations for the next six months in one of the poorest countries on earth.
Haiti ranks 148 out of 179 countries on UNDP’s Human Development Index and it has a long history of being struck by one natural disaster after another while struggling to recover from years of violence, insecurity and instability.
This is not the first time that AirAsia has come to the aid of people and nations at times of tragedy as AirAsia was in the forefront of relief efforts in the wake of the tsunami that struck the region in 2004, Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (2008) and the earthquake which struck Sichuan in China (2008).
AirAsia has also supported the recovery of Bali, Indonesia, after the terrorist bombings in 2005, by giving away 12,000 free seats on its flights.
AirAsia also responded when an earthquake occurred in West Sumatera, Indonesia on 30th September, 2009 at 17:16:10 Indonesian time.
The earthquake measured 7.6 on the Richter scale and struck at sea, 50 km from Padang, the capital city of West Sumatera, Indonesia.