Mobile phone giants Nokia and Motorola have made sizeable donations to the clear-up in New Orleans following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

The Red Cross has placed priority on meeting the most urgent and critical needs of emergency shelter, food and water.

Nokia have made a donation of USD 1million to the disaster fund, with mobile phones donated to the Red Cross at shelters in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, Texas, to help evacuees contact family members.

Motorola have made a donation of USD 250,000 from the Motorola foundation, as well as deloying three emergency communication trailers to support disaster assistance and humanitarian relief efforts. 2,500 pieces of emergency communication equipment (portable radios, fully-charged batteries, chargers) have already been distrubuted to impacted areas.