JCB chairman Sir Anthony Bamford last week pledged assistance worth $100,000 to help in the rebuilding efforts in the wake of the Chilean earthquake disaster.
Bamford donated a 3C backhoe loader complete with attachments and spare parts to help with reconstruction efforts in the country’s second-largest city Concepcion, which last month was hit by 8.8-magnitude quake that killed more than 700 people. About 1.5 million homes were also damaged in the earthquake and initial estimates put the cost of rebuilding at between $15 and $30 billion.
JCB, which has a backhoe factory in Brazil, is supplying the machine through its Chilean dealer Derco, which is also making available free-of-charge a fleet of used machinery for the authorities to use in rebuilding efforts. Derco’s headquarters in Santiago, Chile, 270 miles away from Concepcion, was severely damaged by the quake while its premises in Concepcion appear to be largely unaffected.
“This is one of the most powerful earthquakes on record and it has had a catastrophic effect on Concepcion,” said Bamford. “I hope in some small part our donation will contribute to the rebuilding effort and help some of those people whose lives have been turned upside down by this disaster.”
Earlier this year JCB donated equipment worth $150,000 to help the disaster relief effort in Haiti following the devastating earthquake that killed nearly 220,000 people.
JCB has U.S. headquarters in Savannah, Ga.
