Tech companies pledge millions in aid to flooded Henan

A raft of China's technology companies are pledging donations and emergency aid services to flood relief efforts in Central China's Henan province, where torrential rainfall has swamped parts of the province and killed at least 12 people in the capital city of Zhengzhou.

Alibaba Group announced a 100 million yuan ($15.44 million) donation to Henan and its founder Jack Ma's foundation pledged a donation of 50 million yuan. Alibaba's payment unit Ant Group also will donate a separate 100 million yuan.

Major internet players, from Tencent and ByteDance to Meituan and Didi Chuxing, have promised donations of 100 million yuan, respectively. Foxconn Industrial Internet, which has an iPhone factory in Zhengzhou, also donated 100 million yuan.

Baidu announced a donation of 90 million yuan, whereas smartphone vendors Oppo, Vivo and tech heavyweight Lenovo Group Ltd donated 50 million yuan each to help combat the disaster.

Internet security company 360 Security Technology Inc and its chief executive officer, Zhou Hongyi, said they will donate a combined 40 million yuan.

Beyond financial aid, businesses are riding to the rescue by launching special services.

For instance, Oppo said its multiple retail stores in Henan will offer smartphones and battery-charging services to people in need. Lenovo also said it has dispatched a team of 500 professional IT employees to Henan to help maintain local IT equipment.

Alibaba's mapping service AutoNavi has introduced an emergency report system where users can report ponding regions in real time. ByteDance's short video site Douyin has created a special channel called 'Henan Heavy Rain SOS", where people stranded by the storm can upload a video on their whereabouts and ask for help via the platform.