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Three days after the SE Asia quake and tsunamis...
*sigh* I wish... I worry, sometimes, that I don't FEEL things, and it troubles me immensely that I've been reading articles on the pain and horror people are going through without crying. Not that I don't feel anything, but I'm just quietly grim. My usual reaction to a major world disaster is to start gathering and disseminating info around online communities where I'm active, in order to kill rumors, inform people, and let them know ways they can help if they want to.
The first thing I found when I logged in was the news about the Sumatra earthquake. I don't have much time to myself at my parents', but I've been watching with grim sadness as the news unfolds -- and for the first 24 hours was waiting tensely for online acquaintances to report in. We've accounted for all but two of our active Indian/Thai members now. Some of them have lost relatives. One friend of mine had parents vacationing in Sri Lanka, but she heard from them after two days.
A lot of people post threads to pray for the dead, or the living. My attitude is that prayer is all well and good, but there are other more proactive things we can do... and that the more everyone does a little bit, the more help total there will be. Millions of people have been affected. It will take billions of us to help them. One thing that's promising is that bloggers are setting up websites to track and aid relief efforts at the local level (e.g. youth groups and temples sending help from inland India to the coast) to supplement the big, mega-organizations that do what they can but are hampered by bureacracy and logistics.
I recommend taking a look at The Southeast Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Relief efforts blog page which is attempting to help coordinate and disseminate info on relief efforts large and small.
After scouring news reports to find out what relief organizations are already in the afflicted areas with people on hand to start the relief efforts immediately, and/or which provide vital services and generally use donations efficiently, Mom and I have donated what we could to Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, and Worldvision. It's going to take a lot of longterm aid as well as short-term emergency relief. The scariest bit is getting clean water, food, and medicine in to prevent disease and hunger (those agencies all seemed to be making that a priority) plus just getting into some areas that are hard to reach.
I found the following on the BBC website.
( Asian Disaster: How to Help )
*sigh* I wish... I worry, sometimes, that I don't FEEL things, and it troubles me immensely that I've been reading articles on the pain and horror people are going through without crying. Not that I don't feel anything, but I'm just quietly grim. My usual reaction to a major world disaster is to start gathering and disseminating info around online communities where I'm active, in order to kill rumors, inform people, and let them know ways they can help if they want to.
The first thing I found when I logged in was the news about the Sumatra earthquake. I don't have much time to myself at my parents', but I've been watching with grim sadness as the news unfolds -- and for the first 24 hours was waiting tensely for online acquaintances to report in. We've accounted for all but two of our active Indian/Thai members now. Some of them have lost relatives. One friend of mine had parents vacationing in Sri Lanka, but she heard from them after two days.
A lot of people post threads to pray for the dead, or the living. My attitude is that prayer is all well and good, but there are other more proactive things we can do... and that the more everyone does a little bit, the more help total there will be. Millions of people have been affected. It will take billions of us to help them. One thing that's promising is that bloggers are setting up websites to track and aid relief efforts at the local level (e.g. youth groups and temples sending help from inland India to the coast) to supplement the big, mega-organizations that do what they can but are hampered by bureacracy and logistics.
I recommend taking a look at The Southeast Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Relief efforts blog page which is attempting to help coordinate and disseminate info on relief efforts large and small.
After scouring news reports to find out what relief organizations are already in the afflicted areas with people on hand to start the relief efforts immediately, and/or which provide vital services and generally use donations efficiently, Mom and I have donated what we could to Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, and Worldvision. It's going to take a lot of longterm aid as well as short-term emergency relief. The scariest bit is getting clean water, food, and medicine in to prevent disease and hunger (those agencies all seemed to be making that a priority) plus just getting into some areas that are hard to reach.
I found the following on the BBC website.
( Asian Disaster: How to Help )
