Digger giant offers help to disaster zone

JCB is donating £90,000 worth of diggers to help the disaster relief effort in Haiti after the devastating earthquake.

The gift of two backhoe loaders is being made by JCB chairman Sir Anthony Bamford in response to an appeal from relief agencies for foreign aid.

The machines are being made available to the U.S. Government in its leading role in tackling the aftermath of Tuesday's quake.

Sir Anthony said: "The scale of the devastation is unimaginable and it's heart-rending to see the human suffering caused.

"There is clearly a lack of equipment on the island and I hope our gift of JCB machines will help in some small way to alleviate that suffering and in the rebuilding in the aftermath of the earthquake."

The contribution is the latest by the Rocester manufacturer in providing assistance after natural disasters.

Six backhoe loaders were sent to Sichuan province in China after an earthquake in 2008 and JCB also donated machines worth more than £1 million to help in the aftermath of the Asian Tsunami in 2004.

Diggers were deployed to Thailand, southern India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Last year, the company donated an excavator and a backhoe loader worth £150,000 to help the disaster relief effort in the city of Padang following the devastating earthquake that struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Haiti prime minister Jean-Max Bellerive said "a minimum" of 100,000 people may have died in the disaster.