Community Corner

Five Links for Japan: Guide To Sending Aid, Learning More

It's been called Japan's "darkest hour since World War II" and how dark that will be remains still to be seen. Here's some links you can use to determine ways to send aid in a number of ways and capacities. Also, to research the topic for school reports.

How best to help the people of Japan get through what Prime Minister Naoto Kan has called Japan’s “darkest hour since World War II” is a hot topic both in coffeehouses and cyberspace. Widespread destruction first hit March 11, following an 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

The Google Crisis Response page for the 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami provides “information regarding the disaster and damage with realtime updates.” Included are such things as Japan Meterological Agency tsunami warnings and advisories, disaster message boards (5), shelter information, blackout information, useful maps and live-streaming video. 

As a string of keywords, “How to help Japan” yielded some 2,230,000,000 Google search results, as of March 15 at 2 p.m. Search results are not all for the unprecedented natural disaster, obviously, but certainly most are. One link is for “Tasukete,” the way to say, “help” in Japanese.

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Toward that end, here’s some links you can use to assess how best to send aid:

  1. InterAction Members Support Japan Tsunami Response — This NGO (non-government association) has compiled a list of 23 groups organizing aid efforts, put together in an easy to view chart. An Associated Press report used, and linked to, this page in a posting of its own for news on how to help. The 23 aid efforts listed as of March 14 at 1:45 p.m. include those organized by American Red Cross, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), All Hands Volunteers, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, AmeriCares, Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team, Baptist World Alliance/Baptist Work Aid, Brother’s Brother Foundation, Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, Catholic Relief Services, Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, Church World Service, Direct Relief International, Giving Children Hope, Habitat for Humanity, International Fund for Animal Welfare, International Medical Corps, International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps, Operation Blessing International, Relief International, Save the Children and World Vision.
  2. Mashable offers a list of seven ways to help, including tips for texting, embedding code (on your own Web sites), using Facebook, using Twitter, donating via iTunes and buying virtual goods.
  3. How To Help Japan: Earthquake Relief Options — This Huffington Post report summarizes the responses of various organizations, including some, but not all, listed by InterAction. The HuffPo report adds to the list of ways to give.
  4. How To Help the Victims of the Japan Earthquake — This USA Today report, posted March 13, summarizes the crisis and offers its own list of ways to give, which in part echoes some of the entries noted in the links above but also adds additional posts to the mix.
  5. The Google “Person Finder: 2011 Japan Earthquake” offers two options: “I’m looking for someone” and “I have information about someone.” The site, as of 2 p.m. March 15, was “currently tracking about 161,200 records.”

 

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