Apple will donate to relief efforts for Hurricane Michael, the most powerful hurricane ever to hit north-west Florida. According to emergency services, the storm left around 500,000 people without electricity in Florida, Alabama and Georgia.
Tim Cook made note of Apple’s decision in a series of tweets sent out late Wednesday, in which he said that he grew up on in the part of the Gulf Coast being affected by the hurricane. As a result, it is an area he shares a “special” connection with.
Apple is standing with our friends and neighbors in the Gulf Coast region, and will be donating to recovery and relief efforts.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) October 11, 2018
“I grew up on the shores of the Gulf Coast, near Pensacola and Mobile, and that region holds a special place in my heart,” Cook wrote. “That’s never been more true than now. To all those communities in the path of Hurricane Michael, you are in my prayers. Please stay safe.”
In another tweet, he wrote that: “Apple is standing with our friends and neighbors in the Gulf Coast region, and will be donating to recovery and relief efforts.”
Apple’s history of disaster relief
While the locations hit by Hurricane Michael evidently have personal significance to Cook, Apple has been a regular supporter of various disaster relief efforts around the world.
Earlier this month, the company donated $1 million to help survivors rebuild after a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. The month before that, Apple donated $1 million to the American Red Cross in anticipation of Hurricane Florence. It previously donated a similar amount to help support victims affected by Northern California’s massive wildfires.
