JCB has donated backhoe loaders and electrical power generators worth around $1.25million to the relief effort in earthquake-ravaged Nepal.
Ten backhoe loaders have been given to the Nepalese Army and are now at work in the areas worst hit by the disaster, while the generators are on their way from JCB India’s factory in Delhi.
The 7.8-magnitude quake, which struck the South Asian country on April 25, has left more than 5,000 people dead and 10,000 injured, and has flattened countless buildings, including those in the Durbar Square UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“It is shocking to see the devastation caused by this earthquake and the resulting widespread damage and destruction,” JCB chairman Lord Bamford says. “On behalf of JCB, I express my heartfelt condolences to everyone affected by this natural disaster. JCB will continue to help the Nepalese Government in every possible way.”
The JCB backhoes, supplied through MAW Enterprises in Nepal, have been deployed to help ground relief efforts in stricken communities, and will move on to reconstruction efforts in the coming weeks and months.
“JCB has a long history of helping countries affected by major natural disasters,” the company says, “providing US$500,000 worth of machines and generators to the Philippines when Typhoon Haiyan struck in 2013.
“Machines were also donated when earthquakes struck in Haiti in 2010 and in China in 2008 and to southern India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia in 2004 following the Boxing Day Tsunami.”