Wanted to do something positive to help, so contacted REDR, in London.
(REDR - Register of Engineers for disaster Relief).
There was only a recorded message, saying that their offices would re-open on 4th Jan.!!!!!
I fully expected that someone in the organisation would have had the nous to get in, if only to answer the phone!!!
Who's coordinating the effort in the UK??
the british embassy in thailand was shut for christmas hollidays 2 days after the diasater
quote:
Originally posted by Dick Axtell
Wanted to do something positive to help, so contacted REDR, in London.
(REDR - Register of Engineers for disaster Relief).
There was only a recorded message, saying that their offices would re-open on 4th Jan.!!!!!
I fully expected that someone in the organisation would have had the nous to get in, if only to answer the phone!!!
Who's coordinating the effort in the UK??
This BBC site lists many websites where donations can be made:
BBC
I'm sure that all contributions will be greatly appreciated...
David
quote:
Originally posted by krlthms
I have already done the usual sending of cash to some the relief charities. But if you are planning something less passive, please let me know.
I'm not wanting to cause offence, but for things like this I would much rather give help where needed, such as food, clothes, material things.
in my opinion, too much of the donated money doesn't end up where it was intended (for example, in logistics company's pockets, in charities
bosses pockets etc etc).
Cheers
Andy
i would hope that you could trust the bigger charitys to be competent when it comes to relief management.... surely they have had some practice in the past? and its easier to use money to move about local produce that to send hundreds of bulky items all the way from here.
friend of mine worked at a charity once,she had a BMW company car, all the best hotels and food on her trips away,75% overheads was the quoted
amount
The only thing we can do regarding inefficient charities is to "vote with our feet" and use other charities that maybe more efficient. The
point here is very little money can make a big difference. Even paying a few bob to help bury the dead will make the place less liable to cholera for
example.
I am now thinking this is a unique disaster not only in its breadth, but also because it concentrated just on the beaches, so that very short distance
inland the infrastructure is intact. Therefore, in principle, all we need to do is get the needed stuff across a few miles from intact comunities
inland to the affected people on seashore. So, in this case, donated money could make a big difference.
By the way, isn't it curious how "relative" we are in our perceptions. Just after the big quake, Bangladsh experienced a magnitude 7
quake, which is pretty big, but no one is talking about it.
Cheers to all
KT
im not saying that its the case here, but saying that you dont give to charity cos the money is wasted is a bit of a cop out.
only if 60p in the pound gets thro, its still 60p.
donating an old jumper or whatever isnt charity - its giving away your old crap.
these people need medicine and food, and shipping out a can of baked beans from the uk isnt effective - money enables things to be bought
locally(ish).
Im sure there is some waste of donations....
I have seen the Word Vision headquarters in milton keynes. Its a brand new techie looking building. Im sure they have an excuse, but I would have
thought a brownfield building or existing office block would have done rather than an expensive looking tinted glass building.
atb
steve
I have donated, but really would like to see the troops moved from Iraq to do some positive work helping out. The government is spending £1.5 billion per year keeping the troops in Iraq, and contributing £50million to help save lives around the Ocean - not quite the right balance in my view.
if troops leave iraq too early, the whole thing will get out of control and the deaths resulting from the lawlessness over the next few years would
make the tsunami look small in comparison.
were not silly numbers - like 500,000 deaths a year / over whatever time - being attributed to saddam - it could be considered that our being in iraq
is the correct balance. Unless you are one of the 1,000s affectred by the iraqi war...
atb
steve
[Edited on 30/12/04 by stephen_gusterson]
A contact of my wifes works in a travel agents and wrote in today about someone asking if it wil be sorted out for next week as he is booked on a scuba diving holiday. Pity he wasn't there last week.
quote:
Originally posted by bigandy
I'm not wanting to cause offence, but for things like this I would much rather give help where needed, such as food, clothes, material things.
in my opinion, too much of the donated money doesn't end up where it was intended (for example, in logistics company's pockets, in charities bosses pockets etc etc).
Cheers
Andy