As I write this, the Philippines is being blasted . . .

 by what is believed to be the worst tropical storm in history,

 Typhoon Haiyan.

Please keep the people of the Philippines in your thoughts/prayers and give to disaster relief if you can. Below is the link for the Philippine Red Cross and you can find more choices under the 'To Reach Out' tab at the top of this page. Also: How to donate wisely & An update on to How to donate wisely.

* Philippine Red Cross *

{Photo Source: rixlauren}

If You'd Like to Reach Out & Help With the Relief Efforts in Oklahoma . . .

SAFE AND WELL

I hadn't heard of this before, but it is a wonderful idea. After a disaster, you can let your family and friends know that you are safe and well, bringing them peace of mind. 

Register Yourself as “Safe and Well”     
                     &  
Search for Loved Ones

Concerned family and friends can search the list of those who have registered themselves and find a loved one’s first name, last name and a brief message.  

  
RED CROSS (central & western Oklahoma region)

REGIONAL FOOD BANK of Oklahoma

AID and SHELTER Information

Here are a couple of posts with some relevant information and links on giving:

• How to Donate Wisely.
• [Update] How to Donate Wisely.

Please, Spare A Thought for Our Neighbors in the Midwest

At the time of this post, the death toll in Joplin, Mo. after the 5/22 tornado, is 117 and it's expected to rise, with no estimate yet on the number of injured. 

The death toll from 2011 tornadoes stands now at 455, the deadliest year for tornados since 1953. -- Lane Turner

Chue Vang reacts after coming home to discover that her home was damaged after a tornado struck northern Minneapolis May 22. At least one person was killed and at least 29 were injured in the storm. (Jerry Holt/The Star Tribune/AP

Residents begin digging through the rubble of their home after it was destroyed by a tornado that hit Joplin, Mo. May 22. The tornado tore a path a mile wide and four miles long destroying homes and businesses. (Mike Gullett/AP)

Residents of Joplin, Mo, walk west on 26th Street near Maiden Lane after a tornado hit the southwest Missouri city May 22. (Mike Gullett/AP)

Photos via. THE BIG PICTURE. 

(click to embiggen)

  If you wish to donate:

A general donation to a charity you trust is the best way. This leaves the charity free to address the most pressing needs

in the best way possible. 

A couple of choices:

The RED CROSS.

The SALVATION ARMY.

Several links live permanently in my sidebar

for whenever they're needed.

You Can Help SAVE A MOTHER

Save A Mother educates women about pregnancy, nutrition, immunization, delivery and care of the child. Save A Mother has a complementary benefit in saving the child.

Many other regions in the world are in a similar situation, and we hope to bring this special effort to  other countries with the help of contributors just like you.

We believe that one preventable death is one too many. 

We urge you to Save A Mother and together we can save a million mothers.

To Donate CLICK HERE.

SOLAR AID helps combat
climate change and global poverty by bringing clean, renewable power to the poorest people in the world, and creating jobs and businesses for people to generate income.

[Update] HOW TO DONATE WISELY

GiveWell is a website that performs charity research,
and their advice:

We believe that

• Those affected have requested very little, limited aid. Aid being offered far exceeds aid being requested. (Details below.)
• Charities are aggressively soliciting donations, often in ways we feel are misleading (more on this in future posts).
• Any donation you make will probably be used (a) by the charity you give it to, for activities in a different country; (b) for non-disaster-relief-and-recovery efforts in Japan.
• If you’re looking to pursue (a) and help people in need all over the world, we recommend giving to the best charity you can, rather than basing your giving on who is appealing to you most aggressively with images and language regarding Japan.
• If you prefer (b), a gift to the Japanese Red Cross seems reasonable.

PHOTO: Each image is offered as a limited edition of 10 prints.The project aids Doctors Without Borders.











 

Overall, though, a gift to Doctors Without Borders seems to us like the best way to effectively “respond to this disaster”.

We feel they are a leader in transparency, honesty and integrity in relief organizations, and the fact that they’re not soliciting funds for Japan is a testament to this. Rewarding Doctors Without Borders is a move toward improving incentives and improving disaster relief in general.

GiveWell goes on to give evidence supporting their recommendations at the same link.

HOW TO DONATE WISELY

There have been many articles written on this subject,

so I'll just reiterate the most salient points.

1. Send money, not stuff - It makes it much easier to get what is needed where it's needed as quickly as possible.

2. Give to organizations that are already mobilized, and find a nonprofit you trust - This helps ensure your gift will touch those who need it as quickly and effectively as possible.

3. Give a non-earmarked or restricted gift - Nonprofits are most effective if they can choose how they spend their money, and money does not go unused in one place while there is still need in another.

4. Waiting for a while is not wrong - It takes some time for charities to figure out how best to respond, and rebuilding will be a long process, so your donations will likely be needed for a long time to come.

SOME CHOICES:

(in addition to those I've already posted)

You can donate directly to 

THE RED CROSS or SAVE THE CHILDREN In Japan, Via THIS LINK.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy, has a long list of organizations that are actively working on the relief effort at this time, including:

- - Doctors Without Borders.

- - Helping Hand (USA) For Relief and Development.

- - Shelter Box.

- - Project HOPE.

- - National Disaster Search Dog Foundation.

- - K.I.D.S.

- - Medical Teams International.

- - Mercy Corps.

I am only one, but I am one.  

I cannot do everything, but I can do something.  

And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. 

~ Edward Everett Hale.

Below is a list of charities and relief organizations you can donate to in order to help bring aid to those affected by the worst earthquake in Japanese history.

 - courtesy of The Daily What.

Image: Details from Kent Ng's Tribute "Stay Strong Japan!"

• The American Red Cross has set up a special designation for disaster relief efforts in Japan. To donate, click here, or text REDCROSS to 90999 to instantly donate $10.

• International Medical Corps says it is putting together relief teams and supplies to aid Japan “and other affected countries.” Donate here.

• GlobalGiving’s Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund.

• World Vision’s Disaster Response Fund.

• Click here to donate to AmeriCares’ emergency relief response.

• Save the Children’s Japan Earthquake Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund.

As always, the main Red Cross donations link is in the side bar of this blog.

[EDITED TO ADD from HufPo] 

Salvation Army personnel are organizing efforts in Tokyo and will soon send a team to help the severely damaged city of Sendai, Japan. To contribute to earthquake relief, text 'JAPAN' or 'QUAKE' to 80888 to make a $10 donation or visit SalvationArmyUSA.org. 

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is sending two three-person teams to the Iwate and Miyagi prefectures in Japan. To learn more about the organization's efforts or make a donation, visit Doctorswithoutborders.org.

Other relief organizations are also sending representatives to disaster sites, including AmeriCare and Shelterbox. 

MercyCorps is gathering donations for its overseas partner, Peace Winds Japan, which currently has personnel on the ground distributing emergency relief in Japan.

Along with an appeal for monetary donations, Operation USA has also announced efforts to collect bulk corporate donations of health care supplies. If you are interested in donating bulk medical items, visit OpUSA.org.

For any who have loved ones abroad, Google has stepped up to help. Along with a tsunami alert posted on its front page, Google has launched the Person Finder: 2011 Japan Earthquake to help connect people that may have been displaced due to the disaster. Google has also launched a crisis response page filled with local resources and emergency information.

TEA FOR . . . Well, THE WORLD

My granddaughters and I love to have tea parties.

 Here's a way to help girls around the world
and indulge in a timeless, endearing tradition.

  

Tea Party Angels is an exciting new fundraising program for mothers and daughters to help underprivileged girls around the world.

By hosting a simple tea party, you can raise money that will change a girl's life forever making you a Tea Party Angel.

GREAT NEWS. HOW CAN WE HELP MAKE IT HAPPEN?

 

Life Sack 

Solves Drinking Water Issues 

for the Third World

In many areas of the world the water crisis is not an issue of scarcity — it’s an issue of providing access to a clean supply. The lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills thousands of people every year, while countless others struggle to meet their basic needs. To assist the third world in confronting this issue, three industrial designers — Jung Uk Park, Myeong Hoon Lee, and Dae Youl Lee — have come up with the Life Sack, an ingenious water purification device that does double duty as a container for shipping grains and other food staples. Once the food has been received, the sack can be used as a solar water purification kit.

- inhabitat.

HOW IT WORKS:

Does anyone else see a natural application to disaster relief
in areas such as Haiti and Pakistan, among others?

 

Pakistan’s Floods:

A Crisis of Empathy

 

As Amnesty International pointed out in its recent report on Pakistan, many in the flood affected areas were already undergoing persecution at the hands of the Taliban, Pakistani security forces and U.S drone attacks.  The arrival of a natural disaster that is unprecedented in the country’s history has left millions vulnerable to both disease and even more exploitation by these forces.  Unless ordinary people around the world donate to come to the aid of the millions waiting for help, Pakistanis will bear the burden of believing that in their gravest hour of need they have been forgotten and ignored.

(click on the logo to find the many ways you can give)

The latest story on the catastrophic flooding in Pakistan

 is about how it hasn’t been a story.

Compared to the response to the Haitian earthquake, media coverage of the Pakistan floods has been paltry. While news coverage isn’t correlated with need, it does have a major effect on the amount of disaster relief aid given. An article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy yesterday reported that eleven US charities had so far raised only $5 million for Pakistan flood relief, compared to $560 million raised by 39 US groups in the two and a half weeks after the Haiti earthquake.

 - Laura Freschi,

Is it OK to neglect disaster in Pakistan because it’s not a tourist destination?

[A] study found that one third of the variation in how much TV attention a disaster gets is explained by how popular the affected country is with US tourists. Sadly for the flood victims, Pakistan is nowhere on the list of top destinations for US travelers in Asia and the outlook’s not great: the World Economic Forum ranked Pakistan 113 out of 133 countries in its latest Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report.

 - William C. Adams,

Whose Lives Count?: TV Coverage of Natural Disasters.

~ Click the logo to give ~

THE FLOOD IN PAKISTAN

Astonishing before and after pictures 

provided by NASA.

HOW DO YOU WIN HEARTS AND MINDS?

* Pakistan: 

An Urgent Call for Aid.

The magnitude of Pakistan’s current tragedy is almost more than the mind can take in. A fifth of the country flooded by torrential monsoon rains. Fifteen million to 20 million people driven from their homes or otherwise affected. Six million in need of emergency assistance, such as food and clean water. Millions of acres of the country’s best cropland underwater. Livestock drowned. Medical clinics destroyed. Cholera threatening the survivors.

* U.N. Sounds Alarm on 

Aid for Pakistan.

 * Aid for Pakistan Lags, 

U.N. Warns.

Well it is certainly not by turning our backs 

on those in desperate need. 

I have seen very little about this tragedy 

in the news on television, radio, or in the print news.

Please, look into your hearts, and give.
 

Here is the Red Cross link. 

(It also has a permanent place on the side bar.)

TELEVISION AND NEWSPAPERS HAVEN'T SEEMED TO NOTICE MUCH, BUT

 

NASHVILLE is desperately in need of assistance. 

It has been hit with severe FLOODING, which has left death and devastation in its wake. The RED CROSS icon on the side bar will take you to their site, where you can join with others to help out.

HAITI TWO MONTHS DOWN THE LINE

 THE BIG PICTURE

THE EARTHQUAKE IN CHILE

The Big Picture takes us there.

PLEASE . . .

I know that the past few years have been rough for everyone, the economy is still uncertain, and Congress hasn't seemed to notice we don't all have the same perks as they.  On top of that, one disaster after another has stretched our already limited charity. But, please try to spare something for the quake victims in Chile.

How can we give when we are in need ourselves. No one asks that you take food from your children's mouths or forgo medicine you need, but even a few dollars can make a difference. Whatever you can spare.

You can click on RED CROSS or the link is also permanently in the side bar.

THE EARTHQUAKE IN HAITI

The Big Picture takes us there.

Text "HAITI" to "90999"

The State Department offers the simplest way to donate ($10) to the relief efforts.