MOBILE telephone provider Digicel will be donating US$224,000 to Indonesia, one of the countries hit by the December 26 underwater earthquake and tsunami that killed almost 180,000 people in Asia.

The cell phone company raised US$24,000 through its Tsunami Relief Fund, and donated the other US$200,000. The US$24,000 was garnered through a texting campaign that allowed donations to be made. In Jamaica each text provided a donation of $25 with approximate equivalents in the other countries.

The announcement was made Thursday by corporate communications manager Maureen Rabbit at a meeting between Digicel officials and an Indonesian delegation at the Hilton Hotel in Kingston. The delegation was led by ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Jamaica and to the United Nations Rezlan Ishar Jenie.

The Tsunami Relief Fund was launched in early January in all seven Caribbean countries in which Digicel provides mobile services (Aruba, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Jamaica, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines).

For prepaid customers each text was deducted from their Digiflex prepaid credit and for postpaid customers the charge would appear on the next bill.

The funds will be channelled through an international humanitarian agency in aid of recovery strategies.

“We pledge our support to the victims of the Asian tsunami and are committed to helping them recover and rebuild the communities that have been damaged,” said Rabbit.

Jenie said he “is very touched with the outpouring of support and empathy from Jamaica at a time when my country and other Asian countries are trying to cope with the devastating impact of the earthquake and tsunami”.