January 3, 2005

Disaster Relief

Tsunami Relief Effort

So we sit safely on the other side of the world. Watching images of devastation on TV. Reading tales of survival. Mostly (and pretty much unsuccessfully) trying to comprehend the vastness of so many deaths.

And the initial destruction was only the beginning. The death toll from Asia’s massive tsunami will continue to mount: Lack of clean water and health care, as well as homelessness and poor sanitation, will put countless more at risk of cholera, malaria, and other diseases.

You want to help? (Of course you do.) The best thing you can do is make a donation to humanitarian organizations that already have relief programs in Southeast Asia. Here are a few:

Oxfam America is sending food, water, hygiene kits, and plastic sheeting for temporary housing to Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Operation USA, an L.A.-based disaster-relief organization, will be airlifting medical, nutritional, and shelter supplies into Sri Lanka and India.

Doctors Without Borders and International Medical Corps are sending medical and health-care relief to the entire region.

NetAid, a nonprofit that empowers the poor through educational initiatives, will use donations for emergency services and counseling and for rebuilding schoolhouses in Southern India.

Save the Children is mobilizing resources for families of survivors.

The American Red Cross is gathering support for its International Response Fund.

Lanka Academic Network, a Sri Lankan nonprofit, is dispatching a team of local university volunteers to aid the reconstruction. Additionally, it has set up a website where people can post information about missing loved ones.

USAID can direct donations of bulk commodities or volunteers with special disaster relief skills.

The SEA-EAT bloggers are compiling exhaustive information (helplines, charities, photos, statistics).

It may feel like only a small dose of hope. But every bit counts.

Photo: Salina Kassam