Mondial Assistance a crisis plan in motion immediately after the disaster, sending 20 doctors and medical staff from Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Singapore, Australia and Thailand to the area. The operation was tightly coordinated with the Thai, travel organizers and the foreign offices of the affected countries. The Mondial Assistance team was able to bring home a total of 120 injured tourists from 11 countries. Most of the injured tourists had been vacationing in Thailand when the tsunami struck. In all cases, relatives were kept informed by Mondial staff about the latest developments.

Throughout the rescue operation, Mondial Assistance was supported by the German foreign office and the Thai military. The helpfulness of the Thais was overwhelming, says Assal: "They gave everything to take care of the injured tourists." In their search for foreign nationals, the teams first combed the hospitals in Phuket and then broadened the search into the regions north and south of the vacation area. The survivors suffered mainly from cuts, fractures, bruises, and lacerations. Apart from physical injuries, many were also suffering from deep emotional trauma. The tsunami of December 26 claimed the lives of over 5,300 people in Thailand, including some 3,000 foreign nationals.

The tsunami that struck Asia on December 26 killed an estimated 300,000 people. Reacting first with shock, the world soon mobilized all possible means to provide aid. The response throughout Allianz Group was similarly generous. More than EUR 1 million were donated by employees alone. Allianz AG and its subsidiaries added another EUR 1.7million to the total. "I was overwhelmed," Michael Diekmann stated in his employee letter, "by the sheer scale of the personal and financial support you provided."
Part of the money went directly to emergency aid, for example to the Order of the Salesians of Don Bosco in India, and to the aid organizations Transparency International and CARE in Indonesia.