GM Chips In for Quake-Stricken Japan

With the entire Japanese automotive industry already announcing some type of help or another for the relief efforts currently undergoing on the northeastern coast of Japan, it's now time for the foreign car makers to show their support.

Among the first non-Japanese car makers which announced a donation for the relief efforts is GM, who said last night that it would make available $500,000 for the American Red Cross relief fund, through the GM Foundation. The money will come to complete the already $250,000 GM donated as a member of the Disaster Responder program.

"Humanitarian relief is an important part of the Foundation’s work and we’re answering the call for help in the wake of such terrible devastation,” said John T. Montford, chairman of the GM Foundation and senior advisor for Government Relations and Global Public Policy.

“There is remarkable compassion among GM employees, and I know that same spirit will make a difference in helping the Japan relief effort.”

In Japan, meanwhile, the situation remains dire. While the eyes of the entire world are pinned on the Fukushima nuclear plant, the drama of the millions affected by the quake-driven tsunami continues.

Rescue teams from around the world, including the United Nations, are rushing to the scene of the disaster, in the hopes that the grim and yet unspoken death toll will be somehow limited.

The US response to the disaster is coordinated by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), with the US Navy being in charge with delivering aid in the coastal regions of the country.