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Oh my gosh, I had not even heard this. How awful.

My dad’s church has missionaries in India that go into Burma every month. The mission is small, called the Haran Group, but I will try to find out some more information.

support55- YES!

SB Sarah: I was just perusing The Scotsman (a Scottish newspaper) and here is their coverage of the situation. It’s a bit different than what we’re getting here in the US. It seems as though Burma (also known as Myanmar) is not letting in ANY relief agencies, due to fear of spies.

http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Cyclone-may-yet-sweep-away.4055548.jp

(I don’t know how to embed…)

This LiveJournal user lives in Laos, and has links to report centers and places to link where aid is gathering.  It is far worsdse than you think—the next year’s rice crop has been wiped out by the waves.

http://chanphenglew.livejournal.com/

According to http://www.avaaz.org the organisation to donate to is the International Burmese Monks Organization, as they’re already in the country and are able to pass money between monasteries using their own networks, thus bypassing regime controls.

This is according to Avaaz—I (obviously) have no firsthand knowledge of whether this is the best thing to do.

As I understand, Burma has agreed to let UN aid planes land, however they’re still hampering the aid efforts and it’s going to be devastating on the grounds due to their inability to act quickly and efficiently to avert further crisis. The death and homeless figures are estimated in comparison to the Tsunami of a couple of years ago, and it’s horrifying to think about.

Sarah, another fantastic organization is World Vision.

They had info going out within a few hours of landfall asking for help.

More than 86% of all received donations actually go TO their programs-only like 5% for admin and general stuff.

http://www.worldvision.org/

Just another good one to consider.

In an interview with a Rep from Drs without Borders on NPR this morning the Government of Myanmar is saying they welcome monetary aid but feel they have the manpower to handle the situation. The Dr. did not agree and felt the risk of an epidemic from the aftermath is very high.

In the UK the news is giving:

http://www.dec.org.uk/

which is an umbrella organisation for various aid agencies.

I sent this to a friend who works in aid and just came back from a long term in tsunami land. I’ll report back.

Doctors without Borders is an excellent organization and they always deliver to remote areas that are hardest hit by disasters. The rate of typhoid, cholera and other deadly diseases hitting Burma after this catastrophe will add to the death toll, especially since people are now dumping corpses into the river (often a source of drinking water for many poor countries.)

I hope this works this time - I second the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) recommendation, I’ve heard that they are far more efficient and useful than many other aid organizations.

I personally wouldn’t donate to World Vision because I’ve heard that their aid is tied to religious aims - i.e. converting people.

If you live in or near CT, you can help in a more direct fashion.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wshu/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1272988

CT is collecting food and water for direct delivery.

To be more specific, Americare and Save the Children are both CT based and are collecting food and medicine (Americare) and money (STC).

I’ve never posted before, but I am a volunteer for Samaritan’s Purse, and they are collecting donations for the people of Myanmar as well.  According to the email I received, they had a team of water specialists already there when the storm hit.  Here is a link to that if anyone is interested: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/MP_Article.asp?ArticleID=158

We are rated 4 stars on Charity Navigator as well.

I’m hoping someone here might have some additional information for me. I was going to donate to avaaz but was curious about something. Even if the International Burmese Monks Organization received money, what are they going to do with it? If there’s nothing to buy (food, water, tents, medicine, etc), then what purpose will the money provide? Alternatively, how sure are we that Doctors without Borders is actually getting supplies into Burma? Isn’t this the whole problem…not that there is a dearth of supplies and money available, but that we can’t get them into the country?

Yep, Randi, that is the problem. The junta says they’ll take the money, food, etc., but they don’t want the aid workers. This means we have no guarantees that the aid will reach the people. And CNN is not reporting that estimates of the number killed are closer to 100K!

It looks like they’re trying to wait out the international community and frustrate aid orgs until everyone gets so worried and desperate that they just hand over the aid without actual workers to oversee it’s distribution.

I’ll donate $ when I see who can actually get in and do something with it . . .

Here’s the Link to NPR’s Coverage and the interview with the head of DWB in the area. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90245806

now. not not. NOW. CNN is NOW reporting . . .

verification word: changes88

Kalen, I’m with you. I would really like to donate money or supplies, or both, but only if I know it’s going to get the the general public, not just the military. Well, hopefully, a resolution will occurr soon. Keep us updated everyone!

I have a relative with personal experience of Myanmar and I share Kalen’s doubts about any donations actually going to the people so long as aide workers are kept out. On the other hand, maybe these organizations will eventually be let in and they’ll need to have money and supplies in hand ...

This site:
US Campaign for Burma
is accepting donations as well.
Although I don’t know that they are a better place to send your money, it is very informational. Also, there is a place where you can send the UN an e-mail requesting special aid for Burma. And I tend to think something with so many famous people (who probably have researched well because it’s their reputation) behind it is pretty legit.

Although I will not say I stand behind the whole site. I only found them a few days ago.

World Vision was able to get visas to go into the country, so I recommend donating your dollars to them.

spam: care96

Very appropriate.

I think I’m more comfortable with OxFam. I have a lot of faith in them.

The greatest problem is that the appalling ruling Burmese junta is so paranoid and so protective of its own position that it would rather see its citizens die in their thousands than allow other countries to help.  It is a heartbreaking situation.
Current estimates now suggest as many as 100,000 dead.

Aid workers ARE in Myanmar already, the trouble is getting visas for more to come in, and getting permission for UN/other helicopters etc. to go in.

MSF/Doctors without Borders info on what they’re doing in Myanmar:
http://www.msf.org/msfinternational/invoke.cfm?objectid=C3094338-15C5-F00A-25DEA2218337AF10&component=toolkit.pressrelease&method=full_html

Sorry to double post >.

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A couple more groups who are already in Myanmar:
UNICEF:

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/myanmar_43850.html
This page says they’ve gotten permission for a plane to land with supplies.
UN World Food Programme

The World Food Programme (WFP) has sent four aircraft loaded with critically needed food and other relief items to Myanmar. A total of 45 metric tons of high-energy biscuits is expected to arrive in Yangon early Thursday on two WFP-chartered aircraft from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and one from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.A fourth aircraft from Brindisi, Italy, is carrying 25 metric tones of emergency response equipment paid for by Italy.

Here’s the moveon letter I got

______
    Dear friends,
Burma has been devastated by a cyclone—and by the military junta’s failure to help its people cope. Help raise relief funds for distribution by Burma’s monks:

In the wake of a massive cyclone, tens of thousands of Burmese are dead. More than 40,000 are missing. A million are homeless.

But what’s happening in Burma is not just a natural disaster—it’s also a catastrophe of bad leadership.

Burma’s brutal and corrupt military junta failed to warn the people, failed to evacuate any areas, and suppressed freedom of communication so that Burmese people didn’t know the storm was coming when the rest of the world did. Now the government is failing to respond to the disaster and obstructing international aid organizations.

Humanitarian relief is urgently needed, but Burma’s government could easily delay, divert or misuse any aid. Today the International Burmese Monks Organization, including many leaders of the democracy protests last fall, launched a new effort to provide relief through Burma’s powerful grass roots network of monasteries—the most trusted institutions in the country and currently the only source of housing and support in many devastated communities. Click below to help the Burmese people with a donation and see a video appeal to Avaaz from a leader of the monks:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/77.php

Giving to the monks is a smart, fast way to get aid directly to Burma’s people. Governments and international aid organizations are important, but face challenges—they may not be allowed into Burma, or they may be forced to provide aid according to the junta’s rules. And most will have to spend large amounts of money just setting up operations in the country. The monks are already on the front lines of the aid effort—housing, feeding, and supporting the victims of the cyclone since the day it struck. The International Burmese Monks Organization will send money directly to each monastery through their own networks, bypassing regime controls.

Last year, more than 800,000 of us around the world stood with the Burmese people as they rose up against the military dictatorship. The government lost no time then in dispatching its armies to ruthlessly crush the nonviolent democracy movement—but now, as tens of thousands die, the junta’s response is slow and threatens to divert precious aid into the corrupt regime’s pockets.

The monks are unlikely to receive aid from governments or large humanitarian organizations, but they have a stronger presence and trust among the Burmese people than both. If we all chip in a little bit, we can help them to make a big difference.

Click here to donate:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/77.php

With hope,

Ricken, Ben, Graziela, Paul, Iain, Veronique, Pascal, Galit and the whole Avaaz team

PS: Here are some links to more information:

For more information about Avaaz’s work to support the Burmese people, click here: http://www.avaaz.org/en/burma_report_back/

For more information about the cyclone, the humanitarian crisis, and the political dimension, see these articles:

New York Times: “A Challenge Getting Relief to Myanmar’s Remote Areas.” 7 May 2008.

BBC: “Will Burma’s leaders let aid in?” 6 May 2008.

India’s Economic Times: Indian meteorological department advised junta 48 hours in advance, 6 May 2008.

BBC: “Disaster tests Burma’s junta.” 5 May 2008

Times Online: “Aid workers fear Burma cyclone deaths will top 50,000.” 6 May 2008.

_________

ABOUT AVAAZ
Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means “voice” in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.

I’m afraid I’m holding out as well.  That junta could care less about those people…those killed or the survivors.  They’ll take the money and buy more guns or food for the “favored.”  They’ll live high on the hog and people will starve and die of horrible diseases.  Well, not with my money.  Not until I know that the international community is supervising what happens.  It’s horribly tragic and sad…horrible.  I just think of the children and my soul weeps.  But I can’t contribute to the problem!

Murder by Cyclone.  That’s a new one.  (Okay, I know it’s not…but you get my point.)  I’m horrified.

I remember when I was in Thailand over Christmas, I was in Chiang Mai, which is about two hours from the Burma border that we were warned not to go up there.  It is really sad what is going on in that part of the world.

My student work-study assistant (i work at a university) is from Myanmar.  Her family happens to be visiting her now, and I think they will be speaking to some local area groups to see how we can help.  What a tragic situation.

I don’t know if I can stand to watch another disaster relief effort distorted into murder—solely by governmental fuckheadedness.

Finding out that my donations to Ethiopia in the 80’s most probably went to the military made me angry and sad.  Katrina made me furious (she said, as if it were past tense).  I think this may cause me to turn off all sources of news, plug my ears and sing LALALALA, and live in ignorance.

I’m searching for the best donation options, but in the end I’ll probably go with the red cross.

Thanks for the linkage. I hope we can raise a fair amount to help.

Suze, I know what you mean…but at least with Katrina, we knew the money we sent to the Red Cross or to grass-roots organizations actually helped people…or is still helping people, as the case may be.

I’ve heard some good things about the International Burmese Monks Organization but I truthfully don’t know too much about it.

And is this just me, or do not a lot of people know about it? I just feel like no one has really paid attention to this…

hospital97- ok, this thing is just freaky

oh, and thanks for posting this SB Sarah!

Here’s a story folks will want to read.

Myanmar story on IHT

In the middle, it says:

“Save the Children distributed food, plastic sheeting, cooking utensils, and chlorine tablets to 230,000 people in the Yangon area.”

Happily, that’s the charity I donated to. We can make a difference.

UNICEF, WorldVision, and JICA would be the best choices, in my opinion, as they’re actually on the ground there, being the few allowed in.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0805/S00118.htm
On a totally separate puerile note due to finals brain… how fun that I’m seeing an article in “future time.” [Yes… my brain has melted.]

This is totally out of place, so I apologize in advance. Where is Candy, why am I not seeing more of her? Candy, when will you be back? Are you working on that book of yours or do you not want to come and chat with us no more? Please, please come here more often or I will commit suicide very soon. 

This is totally out of place, so I apologize in advance. Where is Candy, why am I not seeing more of her? Candy, when will you be back? Are you working on that book of yours or do you not want to come and chat with us no more? Please, please come here more often or I will commit suicide very soon. :-(

Just a quick word on just how wrecked part of Burma is, the delta region which is the hardest hit, I believe is actually the rice producing area of Burma. Not only is next year’s crop wiped out, all that arable land is now contaminated with salt water (NASA photos of two days ago showed that the coastline was incredibly wiped away, and is now several hundred kms’ up river (not sure of those numbers, but far out that delta is ruined) - this is because of the storm surge caused by the cyclone). So they’re looking at a huge problem over a number of years, not just the massive immediate need for supplies and help. It’s going to be an ongoing issue, like the rebuilding effort in the Ache province in Indonesia (which saw 250,000 people lose their lives/swept away) has been ongoing for the past 3 years. If you’re concerned about giving money now, just wait - the ongoing need for it will be huge. 
Hopefully the fact that it IS in a monsoonal area will mean that rain will help to wash away the salt from the land.

I’d also recommend supporting Doctors Without Borders (MSF) as well, rather than some of the other organisations, where the money might go elsewhere.

On behalf of Coming Together, I’ve upped the ante on Ann’s contest prize. It’s now $200.

peace & passion,

~ Alessia

The Episcopal Church has an effective outreach arm.  Their reporting about their participation in the relief effort can be found here:
Episcopal Relief and Development/Myanmar

I donated to Unicef. Hopefully that will help some. lizzabee-good point. If the majority of their arable land is gone, where does that leave those folks? Will they need to move somewhere else and does the junta allow folks to move elsewhere? Seems to me that the junta is looking at a dictatorship of sand and trees…

I donated to CARE, because they are an organization I already support.  Giving them extra funds to do more than they already were in Burma/Myanmar feels right to me.

Sarah, I want to thank you for getting this conversation going.  Thanks for the list of organizations already on the ground, for using Charity Navigator ratings, and for providing a forum where others can add their knowledge.

For those of you worried about whether your giving will get through, here’s an update from cnn.com:

Aid workers, in particular, complained that supplies aren’t getting into the country fast enough.

“This is a real worry for us,” said Tony Banbury, regional director in Asia for the U.N. World Food Programme, which unloaded a plane carrying 7 metric tons of high-energy biscuits on Thursday.

Banbury said the situation in the delta is so desperate, “there is a real risk that there will be food riots, social disturbances, people attacking the convoys.”

Of the 7 tons of biscuits, four tons were dispatched to Labutta in the delta, and the rest were to be distributed Friday by Medecins Sans Frontieres in the Yangon area, Chris Kaye, WFP director in Myanmar, said in a written statement.

Kaye said the government had cleared two more WFP flights to land—one stocked with temporary warehousing and medical kits from the World Health Organization, and the other carrying 18 tons of high-energy biscuits donated by the Italian government. One ton of biscuits can feed 2,500 people for a day.

WFP workers were also carrying rice by truck to its new office in Labutta, and planned to distribute the food Friday. Two temporary warehouses have been set up to house the food, the group said.

So donations to the UN World Food Program or to Medecins San Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders look likely to support very direct aid to those in need.

My hubbie has worked with Doctors Without Borders, though he no longer does.  I can only say they are one of the few groups allowed almost anywhere, because they refuse to allow politics of any kind to impact their choices.  And even the UN and Red Cross have had issues/problems getting money or goods where they need to go.

DWB/MSF is where we are donating.

It’s gut-wrenching.

No particular suggestion as to group - here’s a good overview site

http://www.usaid.gov/locations/asia/countries/burma/cyclone_nargis/