Monday, March 28, 2011

How To Make A Direct Contribution To Japan's Earthquake/Tsunami Victims Blog4Japan

                                            Map Courtesy of WORLD ATLAS.Com

Today I'm borrowing some words from Todd Wassel. He is a blogger living in Japan, way to the north of where I am in Okinawa and much closer to the disasters. Both Todd and his wife have some experience in these matters and have gone to the trouble of putting together a list of legitimate sites (English language) that you could make contributions to in order to speed-up the recovery efforts for those affected by the earthquake and tsunami.

In Todd's own words:

"A few weeks ago I posted about my Experience During the Japan Earthquake and made a plea to my readers to spread the word about helping Japan recover. My wife is from Tokyo and we are both professional aid and recovery workers with the United Nations. We have seen the recovery phase of the 2004 Tsunami up close and we know there is a tremendous need to not only raise donations but to make sure those funds are used responsibly and are in the hands of organizations with not only technical expertise but also local knowledge." - End of quote...


This is me, now:

As I suspected, there have been hundreds of scammers taking advantage of the situation in Japan and I've heard complaints from folks making donations to well-established charities who can't seem to get funds to those in need in a timely manner.

I'm no expert on the regulations for the international transfer of charitable donations. There must be some reason why a Red Cross Donation, from a country anywhere in the world gets hung-up and can't be released immediately. Guaranteed, no politician or banker would let their family go without water, a slice of bread, a roof over their head or electricity, not even for one day.

So, here's the deal.  If you'd like to contribute something, directly, to the people on the ground, in Japan visit: TODD'S WANDERINGS and he has all the trusted sites lined up waiting for you.

Please help me spread the word.  I'm heading over to Todd's, right now, to kick in my share.

This post is my contribution to Blog For Japan.  If you are a Tweeterer #Blog4Japan is the way to help spread the word most efficiently.  If you are a blogger, get with Todd and Blog4Japan, too !

UPDATE:

Here's where I went ADRA JAPAN and read their blog, looked at the photos and was sure my hard earned cash would be put to good use, immediately.  If you choose to go to their site where you can make a DONATION using your Visa or Mastercard that gets a little tricky, unless you're smarter than me.

There is a PDF you download and it gives you the translation telling you what goes in which box. Keep it handy and if you have a Google Translation bar, keep that handy, too. There are probably easier sites to donate to but, I liked what I saw these people doing so, I kept plugging away until I was sure they got my money.  I screwed up the forms a few dozen times.  I even have a Japanese wife who could probably have done in ten minutes what took me over an hour.  

Ya see, I'm stubborn as a mule.  I told the wife I'm doing something important; giving the people up in mainland Japan $20 to help them out. Then, I told her get outta here because I can't type on the computer with her and her dog yappin' in the background.  So, she left.

Truth be known, she really doesn't need to know, I have this plastic thing in my wallet that gives you money or she'll want one, too.  And, another thing. Twenty US Dollars is almost nothing in Japan nowadays so, I hit the plastic money thing for enough to make a difference to someone. Hah !



4 comments:

Jay said...

Most useful information Mike, Thanks :)

RyukyuMike said...

Jay,
Thank you. I really hope this helps more people decide to put their cash where it'll do the most good; that's in the hands of the folks on the ground helping people survive. If you plan on giving, this is the way to go.

Ryan said...

What a depressing world we live in, where there are people actually scamming money from this utter tragedy. You're a good man Mike, thanks for pointing us in the right direction.

RyukyuMike said...

Ryan,
Yup, I haven't Googled in awhile but,last time I checked there were about 350 online scams related to this disaster according to the FBI.
We should really be thanking Todd and his wife for setting this up. It really makes a differencewhen you can see some results from your donation.