After Japan’s local automakers, foreign car companies are also rallying to support people affected by the earthquake and the tsunami that hit the Asian nation on Friday. BMW has offered an emergency aid worth €1 million ($1.4 million) destined for the treatment of traumatized children, emergency aid and reconstruction work. The money will be split evenly between the international non-profit organization “Save the Children” and the Japanese Red Cross.

Another foreign company that has announced its help to the people of Japan is the Hyundai-Kia Group. The Korean conglomerate will donate to the Japanese Red Cross 100 million yen ($1.3 million) to assist the recovery efforts. The money will be used to cover immediate needs such as food, water and blankets. Hyundai’s chairman Mong-Koo Chung sent condolence letters to Japanese business partners to express the company’s sympathy and wishes for an early recovery.

Nissan’s partner Renault also launched an emergency campaign to help those hit by the disaster. The company will donate €500,000 ($700,000) to the Red Cross and will enable its willing employees to make donations. Renault also promised to match the amount of money raised by the company’s employees. The money raised will be used to provide food, drugs and other vital supplies for people in the affected areas, as well as to pay for medical treatment and to organize blood donations.

The massive earthquake followed by the even more devastating tsunami that struck the north-east coasts of Japan last week has brought together the country’s biggest automakers including Honda, Nissan and Toyota, which announced today that they will donate $3.75 million each for relief and recovery efforts in communities affected by the disaster.

The three automakers have also announced the closure of some of their factories in Japan. From March 14 through March 20, Honda will suspend all production activities at its plants in Sayama, Saitama, Ogawa, Tochigi, Hamamatsu and Suzuka, plus all facilities in the Tochigi area, where damage was more serious. From March 15 through 20, Honda will also suspend production at the Kumamoto factory.

Other automakers affected by the earthquake include Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Suzuki, which have either suspended or slowed down production because of supply shortages.