Asia Disaster - Relief Appeal

This is an entirely different kind of blog post - and utterly serious. The worst disaster to be visited upon humanity since World War 2 occurred the day after Christmas along the margins of the Indian ocean. Unless you have been living in a cave the last few weeks, you know well what has transpired. As I write this the death toll has crossed 150,000, with over 500,000 injured; and that's just the immediate casualties...

I won't belabor the point. These people need help. The relief organizations putting boots on the ground in the stricken areas need all the help they can get. And the help they need is money. Readers of this blog are, to a person, a very privileged group, and it is an obligation of privilege to help ease the suffering of people stricken by misfortune. As we enter the New Year I beseech you to pull out the credit card and make a generous donation to the relief organization of your choice right now. If you have already done so - my thanks for your help.

To make it easy - here's two of the primary relief organizations with the largest reach:

UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/index.html

And the IFRC: http://www.ifrc.org/

Don't be shy - there is no better use for your money. And don't think that with all the donations pouring in that your's won't matter much. A few hundred bucks is a year's wage in much of this part of the world. Your donation, no matter how small, will have a real, immediate, potentially life-saving impact. Kick off the New year by doing good in the face of disaster... donate generously, and donate now. Thanks in advance!