China's flood victims are not only attracting attention from
their fellow countrymen, but also from some of the international
companies that do business in the country.
Bayer Group, a German healthcare, nutrition and hi-tech
materials company, sent a humanitarian mission led by its greater
China President Michael Koenig, to flood-hit areas in east China's
Anhui Province last week.
Bayer donated some 300,000 yuan (US$40,000) worth of daily
necessities, including rice and other food, to flood victims in
villages in the Huangshan Mountain District, Hefei, capital of
Anhui, as well as two counties of Funan and Fengyang.
"As a responsible company that lives up to the motto 'Science
for A Better Life', we deeply believe that we have to go beyond
production and marketing. We have to care about the country we
operate in and its people," Koenig said at the donation
ceremony.
He also encouraged the flood victims to rebuild their homes.
Since the middle of last month, the Huaihe River Basin has been
overflowing because of the continuous rainfall, resulting in the
region's second largest flood since 1954. The floods have hit 15
cities and 69 towns in Anhui Province. Some 15 million people have
been affected.
As one of the first multinational companies to contribute to the
flood-relief efforts in Anhui, Bayer hopes other companies will
follow its lead and make donations.
Bayer Group said its commitments to China's society and
environment are as important as its business development.
The company also donated goods to flood victims in Hunan last
year.
The company said economy, ecology and social responsibility are
corporate policy objectives. For example, Anhui-based Bayer
CropScience, supports farmers by offering training and teaching
them about agro-chemicals. The company has organized 400 training
seminars for farmers this year.
Last week, 20 Bayer young environmental envoys, all of them
university students from Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Jinan,
took part in an ecological summer camp organized by Bayer.
The students visited a waste landfill plant, a wastewater
treatment plant and Bayer's CropScience farm in Hangzhou.
(China Daily July 31, 2007)