Caterpillar emphasizes readiness

Foundation says preparedness ahead of time more effective than relief after the disaster

Caterpillar Foundation has invested in a disaster preparedness and in a special mitigation fund co-founded with the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation that aims to ease more effectively losses caused by natural disasters.

“Rescue training and preparation will put people in a better position in times of disaster,” said Chen Qihua, vice-president of Caterpillar Inc.

The Caterpillar Foundation, Caterpillar’s charity foundation that aims to alleviate poverty and place people on the path to prosperity, has so far invested $500,000 in the disaster preparedness and the mitigation fund. The fund was started with a kick-start investment of $250,000 from the Caterpillar Foundation.

The fund is mainly used to store materials for disasters throughout China and offer training to volunteers and local residents to help them become more professional in disaster-related work. Meanwhile, the fund will also be used to raise awareness of disaster precaution in communities.

The disaster preparedness and mitigation special fund was first mobilized when Yancheng, Jiangsu province, was hit by a tornado and hail in June. It transported 210 tents to the affected region within 20 hours of the disaster. Makeshift shelters were built for the victims.

According to statistics of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, in the past five years, 310 million people in China are affected by disasters every year, with 1,500 people missing, 9 million people relocated, the destruction of nearly 700,000 houses, and damaged crops on around 27 million hectares. Direct economic losses amounted to 380 billion yuan ($57.3 billion)).

“Disaster preparedness is

Rescue training and preparation will put people in a better position in times of disaster.” Chen Qihua, vice-president of Caterpillar Inc

more effective in easing the losses than rescue and reconstruction,” said Jiang Shaogao, vice-president of China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation.

“$1 spent on disaster preparedness saves $7 in disaster relief and reconstruction. Yet less than 0.7 percent of disaster relief resources worldwide are used for preparedness.”

Jiang said that the disaster preparedness and mitigation special fund has shifted the focus from postdisaster donation to predisaster preparation, raising the effectiveness of rescue work and minimizing losses of lives and property.

According to Chen, the fund has also helped make the best use of the donations because it makes the use of the capital more flexible.

“In many NGOs, the capital can only be used for certain purposes. In times of disaster, capital in NGOs often is idle as too many donations flood into the funds within a short period of time. The money might as well be used for disaster preparedness,” said Chen.

“In order to solve global problems, we need the combination of welfare work and business. For Caterpillar, the company itself focuses on social infrastructure construction while the foundation focuses on human infrastructure.