« Core promises | Home | After the dollar »
Burma disaster aid appeal
By jquiggin | May 9, 2008
Update: my email is j dot quiggin at uq dot edu dot au
I’m reposting this announcement from Club Troppo of a joint fundraiser to help cyclone relief in Burma/Myanmar. As regards logistics, I suggest readers here donate to a charity of their choice, and send me an email copy of the receipt for record-keeping purposes. Since the idea is to turn the spirit of competitive emulation to the general good, please feel free to announce your donation in the comments thread for this poist
<h3>Joint Myanmar appeal</h3>
With tens of thousands dead (possibly a hundred thousand) and hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed, the disaster in Myanmar is approaching the scale of the December 2004 tsunami. The difference is that it’s confined to one extremely poor country with particularly poor infrastructure. [Update: Ken Parish would rather call the country Burma, and recommends this discussion of the name issue.]
Aid agencies are working frantically to supply food, water, medication, tarpaulins and so on, to a million or so survivors of Cyclone Nargis who remain in desperate straits. Their initial efforts have been hampered by the paranoid Myanmar government and bureaucracy (see Ken’s post below) as much as by the blocked roads and unusable airports, but it seems progress is being made.
Some blogosphere veterans might remember that John Quiggin raised nearly $5000 in donations for aid organisations involved in the tsunami relief effort three years ago. John undertook to match every dollar pledged by a reader with a dollar of his own.
He is doing the same thing again, this time in collaboration with Club Troppo. We are hoping to persuade readers to give generously in the knowledge that every dollar of disposable income sacrificed translates to nearly four dollars of aid. John will donate fifty cents for every dollar pledged in the comments threads for this post, the comments thread for the twin post at his own site, or by email to John or me. Club Troppo contributors will put in another fifty cents.
The deadline for pledges is midnight Thursday 15 May, and we’ll announce the total collected this time next week. If you donate electronically, forward John or me the acknowledgment in due course, although it doesn’t have to be by the deadline. (The acknowledgments don’t usually specify the amount, but we’ll take your word on that.) Unless you ask to remain anonymous, we’ll list the contributors.
Donate to which ever reputable aid organisation you prefer. Some obvious candidates, who are operating in Myanmar now and also accept on-line donations, are Red Cross, CARE, World Vision, and Medecins Sans Frontieres. Oxfam is collecting funds, though they do not appear to be conducting their own operations in Myanmar. Readers are encouraged to add to this list of suggestions.
James’ email is j DOT farrell AT uws DOT edu DOT au.
Update: Troppo already has half a dozen donations, while I’ve received just one from reader DK (I’ll preserve anonymity until preferences are clear. Come on team!!
Topics: Life in General |
May 9th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
$90 to World Vision - transaction reference number W0086666 - sorry I don’t know how to paste in a screen shot of the confirmation page.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Oops. I thought that would be moderated and not appear. Any chance I can be retrospectively anonymous? -Done, JQ
May 9th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
I’ve donated through Avaaz https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/15.php
They’ve raised over $1m so far.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Great idea JQ. I’m waiting on a receipt from CARE Australia which I’ll email to you once I get it.
It’s a core promise of $200.
May 10th, 2008 at 11:33 am
$100 donation to Burma Appeal via:
https://www.tear.org.au/donate/giving/
“TEAR Australia, in partnership with World Concern Burma and Hope International, is providing immediate relief, as well as planning medium-term recovery and follow-up reconstruction work in Burma.”
Your reference number is GD0805101168329
please let me know if u need further information. and thanks for the great idea!!
Jed
May 10th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Many thanks for taking this initiative. $50 to World Vision, ref number W0087208.
May 11th, 2008 at 6:49 am
$100 through avaaz, as in frankis’ post above.
Through the back door via the monks.
No receipt number, but can forward the acknowledgement by email if I can find your email address.
Great admiration for what you’re doing.
Julian.
May 11th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Riiight. I found the email and forwarded the receipt to James.
May 11th, 2008 at 9:35 am
I can’t find Quiggers’ email address.
May 11th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
We’ve donated $100 to Red Cross - can’t find Quigger’s email address either.
Quiggers - are you leading Club Troppo yet?
Otherwise, we’ll just send the confirmation email to them.
Come on team!
May 11th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I’d already sent $350 to MSF (email receipt to be sent to you in a few minutes) before I saw this. Does that count? If so, since I’m a regular her and occasional at Club Troppo feel free to count this on your side of any friendly rivalry.
May 11th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Yes, I sent my $50 receipt to James.
May 11th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
$100 to Red Cross. Receipt to follow.