Relief Efforts for the Disasters in China and Myanmar

Cyclone Nargis

In May 2008, two catastrophic events struck east Asia. On May 2nd, Cyclone Nargis struck the country of Myanmar (a.k.a. Burma), leaving potentially more than 134,000 dead. Ten days later, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck Sichuan province in China, leaving a current total of over 60,000 dead (as of May 24th) and an expectation that the toll may rise to over 85,000.

These disasters directly affect Davis California! In particular, many of our neighbors in the city and the university have friends and family living near the earthquake's epicenter in Sichuan, China.

Wikipedia Articles With More Information:
Cyclone in Myanmar
Earthquake in Sichuan China

Check the front page of any major news source for more information as well.

Area affected by the quake

One quick way of making a donation to the relief efforts is via the Hong Kong Red Cross ( donation link)

You may also donate via Mercycorps (donation link). At first, Western Union Foundation was generously matching each donation dollar for dollar up to $250,000. The $250k limit has already been reached due to the generosity of thousands of individuals like you.

Supposedly, a small 100 HK$ (~ 13 USD) will provide at least a week's food and water supply for a single victim.

The Davis Food Co-op also has Charity Coupons in amounts of 5, 10, 25, and 50 dollars. These coupons are specific to the Myanmar cyclone and can be picked up and donated at any register.

UC Davis' CSSF was quick to organize a local effort to raise funds for the relief activities (see a Cal Aggie article). You may see them around campus, so please donate if you can. See the CSSF website for more information (link) or check their new Facebook group for latest updates: (link)

(PS: due to some experts, the chance of a big quake in northern California in the next 30 years is 99%. Please go over the Earthquake Preparedness Guides (link)

Please leave a note if you have questions about these disasters or about how you can help:

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2008-05-20 12:37:10   From my facebook post:

China

*Would recommend if choosing red cross, to donate directly through the Hong Kong Red Cross or Chinese Red Cross listed and not the American Red Cross because of the red tape and time for the money to be processed and wired to the disaster zone.

China Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org.cn/ OR http://202.108.59.10/wsjz/wsjz.asp or site is overloaded.

Hong Kong Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org.hk/

International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: http://www.ifrc.org/

Jet Li's Foundation:
English: http://www.onefoundation.cn/html/en/beneficence_01.htm
Chinese: http://www.onefoundation.cn/zhuanti/080512dz/index.htm

Taiwan Tzu Chi Foundation (US Branch): http://www.us.tzuchi.org/usa/home.nsf/photonews/k11802

World Vision China: http://www.worldvision.cn/

World Journal Donation Drive: http://www.wjads.com/pr/c_quake_donation/ced.html

Tsinghua Foundation: http://tsinghuafoundation.org/earthquake08/index.html
^{Your donation will be tax deductible and eligible for donation match if your employer has such program.}

For Myanmar, considering donating to groups like World Vision, Tzu Chi, or Red Cross that have their own personnel on the ground and do not necessarily have to go through the obstacles governmental bodies have to to get aid to the victim (there have been numerous reports of the military government taking UN supplies for themselves)

World Vision: http://www.worldvision.org/Worldvision/eappeal.nsf/egift-disaster-response-southern-asia-cyclone-relief?OpenForm&campaign=11365555&cmp=KNC-11365555

Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/news/in/profiles/Intl_profile_MyanmarCyclone.asp?s_src=pre_aspLink

Tzu Chi: http://www.us.tzuchi.org/usa/home.nsf/fd4adc073f7366fe88256fa70060285a/b043baee5d62d15e88257443007e72a3?OpenDocument

International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: http://www.ifrc.org/ —BessieChu

2008-05-22 16:59:26   For Burma (myanmar), another excellent place to donate is to the Burmese Monks Assocation. Not only are they literally on the ground, and cannot be readily kept out like the UN and many other relief organizations, strengthening the value of the monks in the community can have positive political influence as well. The Myanmar dictatorship can make international groups look bad, but when an internal group provides support and caring and infrastructure that the government doesn't, they can become very influential. (Hamas and Sadr's Mahdi Army are excellent examples of that principle used against US interests). Donating to them should provide at least as much disaster relief for your money, with the side effect of political capital.

As for whether to trust that this group isn't a scam, the international progressive group AVAAZ supports them and handles their donations. MoveOn.org endorsed this effort instead of setting up their own, as well.
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/
~~~~NotTires —NotTires

2008-05-27 01:36:39   Can we donate to the American Red Cross and stipulate that it go to the HK or Chinese Red Cross for overseas help (I thought this was how they did it in the past)? Or is now better to donate to the Ch and HK RC's directly? —stevemori