20 Years After The Tsunami
Bertelsmann and its employees have made it possible for 312 children affected by the 2004 tsunami to grow up in safety.
On December 26, 2004, a series of tsunamis triggered by an earthquake off Sumatra devastated the coasts of nine Asian countries around the Indian Ocean, claiming a total of 230,000 lives. The disaster also abruptly changed the lives of Anidha, Jeyapratha, Snega, Prabhakaran, Panuwat, Kittisak and Nittiya, children in India, Thailand and Indonesia. They and many other children and young people lost their parents and relatives at the time, or were no longer able to stay with their families after the disaster. But they eventually found refuge in one of the children’s villages run by the international aid organization SOS Children’s Villages, where they were able to grow up safely and given good care. This was possible in part thanks to Bertelsmann and its employees, who collected and donated money for the tsunami victims, raising the impressive sum of €1.4 million.
In January 2005, just days after the disaster, Bertelsmann promptly and unbureaucratically donated €1 million to SOS Children’s Villages. A subsequent fundraising campaign brought in another €200,000 from employees in Germany, the U.S., the U.K., Spain, Chile, Mexico, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and Austria. This money was then doubled by Bertelsmann through a matching program. A total of €1.4 million ended up in the relief fund account set up by Bertelsmann. With the support of Bertelsmann’s finance department, SOS Children’s Villages invested the donations in secure fixed-term deposits, which generated interest income of around €300,000 in the years that followed.
Bertelsmann had specified that the donations were to be used primarily for the long-term support of children affected by the tsunami. Soon after the flood disaster, it became clear that although a lot of money was available for immediate relief thanks to the worldwide willingness to help, the continuing care of those affected, especially the children, would be much less certain. Bertelsmann therefore decided to help a total of 250 children with an SOS Children’s Villages sponsorship over a period of at least ten years. In the end, as SOS Children’s Villages reported at year-end 2020, they were able to support not 250 but 312 children for a total of 16 years, thanks in part to interest income. During this period, all these children were provided with food, clothing, medical care and education.
Originally, the Bertelsmann sponsorships were mainly intended to benefit the children in the SOS Children’s Village in Puducherry, southern India, which was set up immediately after the flood disaster. But in consultation with SOS Children’s Villages, Bertelsmann soon decided to sponsor children in the hard-hit areas of Indonesia and Thailand as well. Just as in Puducherry, new SOS Children’s Villages were established in Medan, Banda Aceh and Meulaboh in Indonesia, and Phuket in Thailand to provide a new home for children affected by the tsunami.
‘Sustained, enduring help’
“Bertelsmann has provided sustained, enduring help to the many abandoned and orphaned children whose lives were drastically affected by the devastating tsunami disaster ten years ago,” said Sabine Fuchs, then Managing Director of SOS Children’s Villages in Germany, thanking the Group and its employees for their support on the 10th anniversary of the tsunami disaster, in 2010. “In the SOS Children’s Villages that you support, children in need can still draw new strength every day for a self-determined life full of opportunities. They experience what it means to grow up in a family atmosphere, continue to experience the strong family bond and learn how to deal with what they have experienced and their past.” Together, they have been able to make a huge difference to the lives of these young and sometimes severely traumatized people. “You stood by the children in a hopeless situation in an exemplary manner,” continued Sabine Fuchs at the time, “and showed them the way to a promising future.”
Even after 2020, when the funds from the tsunami fundraising campaign had been used up, companies and employees continued their support for SOS Children’s Villages. In 2021, Bertelsmann helped young adults from SOS Children’s Villages’ support programs worldwide with digital education, donating 60 Udacity Nanodegrees in the fields of cloud, data and artificial intelligence. And as a result of the “Fit for Work” fitness challenge, in which Bertelsmann employees around the world covered many thousands of kilometers in various sports activities to raise funds, SOS Children’s Villages received donation cheques for €10,000 in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
SOS Children’s Village Puducherry in India
SOS Children’s Villages has been active in India since 1963. In 2004, the organization provided emergency aid for the victims of the tsunami, and since 2008, underserved families in Puducherry have been receiving long-term support. The SOS Children’s Village Puducherry with 15 SOS families is located in the suburb of Pillayarkuppam about 20 km from the city center and about two kilometers from the sea. Puducherry belongs to the southern Indian province of Tamil Nadu. In the past, most people here lived from farming and fishing. The tsunami of 2004 caused severe devastation in the region, destroying not only houses but also boats and fishing nets and thus the livelihoods of many people. Thanks to the post-tsunami reconstruction program, in which SOS Children’s Villages was also involved, the inhabitants of the region were able to create a new livelihood for themselves. Today, more people are working in industry and the service sector, especially in tourism.
SOS Children’s Village Phuket in Thailand
The first Thai SOS Children’s Village was established in Thailand’s capital of Bangkok in 1972. The SOS Children’s Village Phuket was established after the devastating tsunami of 2004. Immediately following the disaster, SOS Children’s Villages launched emergency aid programs. In Thailand, boats and nets were made available to fishermen who had lost their livelihoods. Homes, a kindergarten and a school were rebuilt. Initially, the work focused on medical care, food and emergency accommodation. The next step was to try to find surviving relatives of vulnerable children and find out whether they would be able to provide for these children. As in the case of some children no relatives could be found or they were unable to provide for them adequately, SOS Children’s Villages decided to build a new SOS Children’s Village with twelve SOS families.
SOS Children’s Villages Banda Aceh, Meulaboh, and Medan in Indonesia
Banda Aceh is the capital of the province of Aceh in the northwest of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. After the tsunami, SOS Children’s Villages provided emergency aid for traumatized children and homeless families in the hard-hit region. In addition, Children’s Villages supported the local communities by rebuilding more than 500 houses and community centers near Banda Aceh and Meulaboh. Generous donations and close cooperation with the local authorities ultimately made it possible to build three new SOS Children’s Villages in Banda Aceh, Medan and Meulaboh. Most of the children supported by Bertelsmann for 16 years grew up here. The three children’s villages each comprise 15 SOS families, an SOS social center, and an SOS kindergarten. After the tsunami, SOS Children’s Villages Indonesia launched its first family strengthening programs. The SOS Social Centers provide comprehensive support services to the surrounding communities, including counseling, community assistance and psychological support. SOS Children’s Villages gives children access to education, medical care and psychosocial support. Families receive food or are supported in income generation and dealing with the authorities. Workshops and self-help groups provide a way to enhance parental skills and awareness of children’s rights. In addition, each of the SOS kindergartens looks after as many as 90 children.
