Optus mobile customers who wish to send donations to relief and rescue operations in New Zealand and Japan can now send their pledges to the Red Cross via SMS.

Currently available to Optus mobile customers only, the new SMS donations service will help raise much needed funds for the Red Cross Japan & Pacific Disaster and New Zealand Earthquake Appeals. The service can also be made available to support other major Red Cross local and international disaster appeals as needed.

From 28 March - 11 April 2011, Optus mobile customers can support those affected simply by texting either the word "NZ" or "Japan" to 19RELIEF (19735433) to donate $5 to either of the appeals. Optus prepaid customers will have the amount debited from their account credit while post-paid customers will be charged via their monthly bills.

Red Cross CEO, Robert Tickner says, "Australians have enthusiastically responded to the devastating disasters in Japan and New Zealand. While the outpouring of generosity has been encouraging, the scale of these tragedies mean more help is needed."

"We are gratified by the goodwill response by Optus and Be.interactive to lead the way in the telecommunications industry by providing this SMS giving initiative to Optus customers. Australians are compassionate people and we want to give when we can - we just need efficient and effective ways to do this. We hope Optus customers are inspired by this easy, quick and immediate way of donating, particularly young people", Mr Tickner said.

Maha Krishnapillai, Director of Government and Corporate Affairs at Optus, said "Through our partnership with Australian Red Cross and Be.interactive, we are able to offer our eight million mobile customers a quick and easy way to make a donation via SMS to support major disaster appeals. It's one way we can help our customers to show their support for communities in times of great need."

Lara Thom, Managing Director of Be.interactive said "We are delighted to be able to partner with Red Cross and Optus on this initiative. There are so many times where others need our help and as a community we all feel the need to give. SMS is the most simple form of communication and often the most effective and therefore to offer this simple and immediate solution for consumers to donate means we can deliver funds faster to those in need."

Texting contributions took off last year in the USA after the earthquake in Haiti. More than 3 million donors used text messages to donate $32 million to American Red Cross relief efforts following the Port-au-Prince quake. Mr Tickner said "The success of the Haiti mobile campaign shows the powerful impact and opportunity this channel can have on raising much needed funds."