Energy firms contribute to Aceh disaster relief efforts

US energy giant Exxon Mobil Corporation said Thursday it was contributing US $5 million for earthquake and tsunami disaster relief efforts. Of this total, $4 million will go towards relief efforts in Indonesia.

?This assistance, on behalf of Exxon Mobil Corporation, its employees, retirees, dealers and distributors will support important relief efforts in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province,? R. I. Wilson, ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia Inc. (EMOI) President and General Manager, said in a statement.

Also on Thursday, New York?based independent oil firm Amerada Hess Corporation announced in a statement that it was contributing $2 million to assist the disaster relief efforts.

?Of the $2 million, $1 million is being contributed to Save the Children for their invaluable work in Indonesia and $1 million to the Rachaprachanukroach Foundation, under the Royal patronage of the King, for their support of children in Thailand impacted by the tragedy,? the statement said.

A 9-magnitude earthquake, the biggest in 40 years, struck the coast off Indonesia's Sumatra island on Dec. 26, creating a tsunami that destroyed coastal areas in countries around the Indian Ocean, reaching as far as Somalia on the east African coast.

The Indonesian government has said almost 100,000 people had been counted dead so far and 600,000 people in worst-affected Aceh province were now homeless, according to reports. (*)