Tetra Pak sends milk supplies to typhoon victims

19-Nov-2013 - Last updated on 19-Nov-2013 at 15:42 GMT

Typhoon Yolanda hit the Philippines on November 8,

Tetra Pak has donated $1.5m to the victims of typhoon Haiyan, in the Philippines, and sent 500,000 packs of UHT milk.

The typhoon, known locally as ‘Yolanda’ hit the Philippines on Friday, November 8, with devastating effects.

Officials estimate up to 10,000 people have died and more than nine million residents are struggling to survive without food, shelter or clean drinking water.

Tetra Laval Board

To support the relief efforts, the Tetra Laval Board made an initial donation of $1.5m to support the Red Cross and sent a supply of milk and water to those affected from its Manila site.

Carol Yang, corporate director, PR & social responsibilities communications, Tetra Pak International, told DairyReporter.com the focus of the team is to get milk to the victims as soon as possible.

“All relief support activities are coordinated by our local team in the region,” said Yang.

“Since the announcement of the relief fund, the team has been working with our customers to provide milk to the typhoon victims, starting with an initial amount of 500,000 packs of UHT milk.”

'All our staff are safe'

She added Tetra Pak does not have any production facilities in the Philippines and all business operations in the country are managed out of its office in Manila, which has 50 employees.

“We were relieved to find that all our staff and their family members are safe. However, some of their relatives who reside in the typhoon devastated areas were affected. At this stage, we are gathering information to ascertain the level of impact to them,” Yang added.

“We’ve also done a quick check with all our customers in the Philippines and found that their production plants were not affected. However, some of their operation sites and distribution hubs situated in the affected areas were damaged.”