Tsunami Relief Thread

[9-2-2]

Special thanks to Shanti for inspiring this thread

This thread will contain:
1) Links to statistics, what's going on now, and full details on what happened.
2) Websites that are geared to the relief effort for the Asian tsunami.
3) Websites for donations in general (not specified to the tsunami / earthquake in Asia, but can help)
4) Ideas for helping them out directly (i.e., making packages, etc. if you're low on resources)

Here are the contents. If you want to find a specific section, use your find comman (CTRL + F) to find the combonation of 4 letters in each section. EXAMPLE: If you want to find out what happened in Asia, press CTRL F, and enter "WHIA" to be taken directly to that section. n_n


CONTENTS

WHIA // What happened in Asia? Articles, information, and links about the earthquake and tsunami.
DTRE // Donate to the Tsunami Relief Effort in Asia.
FOWM // Find Other Ways to Make a General Donation (sites not specified to helping the catastrophe, but can and will get their butts on it )
YCHI // You Can Help! Ideas for Helping the Survivors of the Tsunami in Asia



whia
What Happened in Asia?

InternetNews.com: Spreading The Word of Tsunami Relief, talks about the tsunami / earthquake disaster's effects on the internet community.
MSN Video: The Science of Tsunamis, you MUST have Windows Media Player to be able to view this short news video... a good internet connection is not required, but highly reccomended. In response to the tsunami in Asia, this 5 min. long video features some quick know-how about how a tsunami works, including a live (simulated) demonstration of an artificially-generated tsunami with a "village" of blocks to demonstrate an idea of the damage that can happen. No dead bodies here, but there are clips of the tsunami's damage, and former tsunamis as well. If you finish, the video, it goes into a conference with Powell about the situation, and so on.
National Geographic News: The Deadliest Tsunami in History?, has less of the gory details than most of the other news sites. National Geographic speaks with more scientific overtones, and lists some facts about tsunamis.
ReliefWeb: South Asia: Earthquake and Tsunami - Dec 2004, offers a timeline tracking assistance efforts for the tsunami disaster in Asia.
Reuters via Yahoo! News: Race to Bury Asia's Dead as Toll Hits 63,000, mentions the death tolls in different Asian countries, cost of damages, and speaks a little about the U.N. effort going on.
Reuters Alertnet: Tsunami will require biggest UN relief drive, a good article on the damages of the Asian Tsunami / Earthquake, the costs, and projections on the horrible aftermath.
Times of India: India has new nightmare: Epidemic, starvation, this article is SCARY. As if the catastrophe wasn't enough, there is now a new danger that the undisposed bodies will result in disease, and the sheer LOSS will result in massive starvation for that entire part of the continent!
USAID: Earthquake and Tsunami Relief, a site hosted by the American government that not only discusses donations to this situation, but lists a color map and statistics on what happened.
Yahoo! News: Tsunami Death Toll Soars Past 58,000, an article specifically written about the death toll, and its effects on the living.


dtre
Donate to the Tsunami Relief Effort in Asia

The Acorn: How You Can Help, shows a small list of contacts and quick information on how you can help.
AID India, this site focuses specifically upon India. You may make a pledge online and you have to fill out a quick form. There is also information on how to make donations by mailing in a check. This site is geared for American dollars and Indian rupees.
Associated Press via Yahoo! News: Agencies Planning Aid to Tsunami Victims, presents a list of aid agencies and their contact info.
The Command Post: Earthquake: How to Help (Updated Extensively 12/28), offers an incredibly useful and extremly LONG list of agencies to donate to, how to help, and blurbs on the horrible events unleashed in Asia.
Doctors Without Borders, allows you to donate money for DIRECT MEDICAL HELP in Asia!!! More than 60 TONS of medical and sanitation equipment has been airlifted to Asia in response to the recent disaster. Emergency response medical teams have been dispatched to different disaster sites. THEY NEED YOUR HELP! A team of 12 professional surgeons, nurses, doctors, and logisticians serve up to 10,000 patients PER DAY. You may donate securely by credit card, by phone, and / or volunteer yourself to serve as part of one of the medical response teams in Asia. They will accept: Physicians, surgeons, anesthesiologists, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives, midwives, mental health specialists, laboratory scientists/technicians, and epidemiologists. They also accept non-medical personnel: logisticians, water/sanitation experts, contractors, mechanics, and administrators / financial controllers.
Mercy Corps: Donate to Tsunami Relief, clicking on "Learn More" will allow you to see a Mercy Corps news article about the intensity of the destruction, and clicking on "Donate Now" will allow you to... well, donate. Donations from this site can only be made in U.S. Dollars. You can do so online, and they also have information for making donations by phone and mail.
Network for Good: Tsunami Devastates Southeast Asia, presents a series of links to donate help via various organizations, and offers a few links to more information on the disaster.
Plan USA News: Plan USA leads Tsunami disaster relief, has quick blurbs about the news in Asia... but more importantly (and useful), shows what each country needs at the moment. Plan USA also allows you to make donations on their website to the Asian tsunami / earthquake disaster.
Red Cross: Powerful earthquake, tsunamis strike South Asia, leaving thousands dead, injured and missing, presents an article with a global map of the catastrophe, and a form to allow online donations.
USAID: Earthquake and Tsunami Relief, was posted earlier for its informational content. Now, the donation side. USAID offers a sizable list of relief organizations working in the disaster area, and their contact information. If you don't see it here, you can find an org. on the list! They also offer information on how to donate ($$$ or commodities), how to volunteer, and more.
World Vision: Ways to Give, allows you to send a gift that will supply tsunami disaster locations with food and survival kits (tents, tarp, blankets, water purifying tablets, cooking supplies, etc.).


fowm
Find Other Ways to Make a Donation

Center for International Disaster Information, presents guidelines, situation reports, articles, video news releases, and resources for teachers. Please read their "Guidelines for Donations", they mention some very important info to keep in mind when making a donation. It is a must read, it isn't very long, and you will be the better for it!
Charity Navigator, a HUGE database of charities and hordes of information.
Donate Car For Charity, though many of us are not wealthy enough to own 6 cars (yes, there are citizens that own 6 freaking cars and I've seen them...!), you CAN donate a vehicle as an excellent gift for people in need.
FreeDonation.com, is a huge site providing countless organizations and efforts to donate to, from Aids to Zebras. Seriously. Anything you can think of!
The Hunger Site, follows Stop the Hunger in a similar vein of sponsor food donations. They are, however, a bit more expansive, and present a variety of pages to visit concerning world hunger and crises.
Stop the Hunger, a website that allows the user to donate food at the mere click of a button. That's it! No forms, no credit, NO SPENDING. The sponsors pay for the food donations! Unbelievable!!! Unfortunately, you're only allowed to click once per 24 hours. The food that's donated is NOT meager: anywhere between 1 - 4 cups of food (happy meal size at the SMALLEST). Start clickin'!


ychi
You Can Help! Ideas for Helping the Survivors of the Tsunami in Asia

First, I would like to resurface one very important link before you donate. READ THESE GUIDELINES BEFORE CONTINUING!!!
CIDI: Guidelines for Appropriate International Disaster Donations

That having been said, I will continue. There are countless sites that will allow you to donate to this cause, but MANY of them have inconveniently made the only acceptable currency the U.S. Dollar. This list is for those who wish to work around that inconvenviency, who cannot afford to donate a lump of $$$, or maybe just have a different plan in mind.

1) Donate clothing and accessories to accepting charities... but do NOT send them to the country! Charities and agencies are always willing to accept these items for the countless numbers of homeless Asians affected by the tsunami. You can make these items or buy them.
2) Flat broke? Do not forget: positive energy, especially en masse, can work wonders. Do a ritual by yourself, or gather the entire Pagan community together for a candlelight vigil, some energy raising, a service for the dead, whatever you think will help. Don't limit yourself; you can also involve non-Pagans, but please be careful. This is still the real world, and anti-Pagan hostility can erupt. It's inhuman, but it happens.
3) Throw a blurb on your website or an entire page dedicated to Asian tsunami aid. Cram it with links to charities, news stories, blogs, etc.
4) Spread the word! Start a blog about what's going on. Track these events in history! I don't know how many folks are aware of this, but bloggers all over the world have crammed their blogs with info and musings. It's raging so strongly that bloggers have even appeared on world news.
5) If you can't find charities in your local area that will help with the tsunami disaster, contact a local religious establishment about charities who will help, or call your nearest news station for more information.
6) Start a fund-raiser. Donate all proceeds to the disaster relief. Fund-raisers can consist of anything: car washes, a conglomeration of high school bands, sewing projects, baking goods, art sales, playing a saxophone on the street corner, ANYTHING GOES. Well, almost anything.
7) If, for some reason, you can only make local donations that do not go to the disaster relief, DO NOT FRET. The recipient of your kindness will help add positive energy to consensual reality, thus allowing the Universe to turn events for the better. Any act of kindness, no matter how small, is a change. The mere act of giving an orphan a toy invites more love into reality, and this stimulates healing and rebuilding.
8) Aside from donating survival goods, you can also donate toys for children, books, and games. In such a hostile time where the survivors are scratching out a base living in such a dark environment, they need to be reminded that they are still HUMAN, that life is still worth living, that terror, death, and horrible destruction are NOT all there is to life. Send journals, jewelry, tools for construction, watches, anything you can think of that will help inspire passion and hope over time. Please refrain from sending electronics; this may be highly insulting, considering you'd need a house with an outlet to plug an appliance into.
9) Astrally travel to one of the disaster sites in a group, but NOT alone; you will need group support against the destructive energy that may still be lingering around, as well as the ghosts of the newly dead. Find someone who has been injured, but not dying, and heal them. Do not talk to them, or try to do anything that would disturb their mentality. If you find someone who is injured, with no hope of survival, you can help ease their passing. Purify and ward hospitals to protect patients from psychic craziness. Shield rescue teams from harm when they go excavating through dangerous wrecks for survivors. Use your imagination!!!

Remember: be loving and respectful. Don't be afraid to enchant your gifts with positive energy. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! Please contribute any links and ideas you may have!

Now, I'm going to bed before I fall off my chair.

[happyprincessfairy69]

There's heaps of Australian charities helping atm, with our close ties to Asia and everything. I'm also trundling off to a group this weekend to help pack boxes of food, so if you live in Australia and can spare a tin or two, please donate it.
Anyway some Australian sites for you all, they will of course take international donations.
Unicef
http://www.supportunicef.org/
Care Australia (my favourite)
http://www.careaustralia.org.au/
Red Cross
http://www.redcross.org.au/
World Vision
http://www.worldvision.com.au/
Oxfam (very hands on approach, another very good one)
http://www.oxfam.org.au/world/emerge...a_tsunami.html
Please give what you can and encourage awareness of the disaster in your local community, the more people who give just a little the better.

[rosemary]

Please visit this newly created auction raffle on MW Auction Page. We are hoping to raise money to send to the Red Cross International Disaster Relief Fund for the Tsunami survivors.
The grand prize is an original oil painting- The Green Goddess by Mars, an outsider artist. It is a stunning depiction of the Goddess giving birth to hope and renewal.

Tickets are $5.00 each and 100% of the net proceeds will go to the Red Cross.

Together, we can help!

Click the link below to be taken to the raffle

Thanks and Bright Blessings!


The Green Goddess Tsunami Disaster Relief Raffle:
http://www.mysticwicksauctions.com/item.php?id=1026