While governments and humanitarian organisations rush to Nepal to help the country recover from the devastating earthquake on Saturday, ordinary people have been left wondering what they can do to help. The answer lies in the most obvious course of action – find a credible organisation raising funds to help the victims and donate.
Within hours of the disaster, humanitarian organisations opened online and offline avenues for donation. “Cash donations are gold. It is most useful, easy to turn into assistance and flexible,” said Nathan Rabe, Asia Pacific coordinator for humanitarian diplomacy at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in an email to Scroll.
The money is flowing in even to smaller efforts like one by the Nepalese students at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, which has raised Rs 60,000 from students and staff in less than 24 hours. “After collecting this money, we are thinking of depositing it into the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund,” said Arjun Ayadi, a student from Nepal and one of the organisers of this drive. Ayadi has established contact with his family in Kathmandu who are safe but living out in the open for now. The JNU students might undertake collecting relief material like tents and blankets later but will leave the logistics up to the Nepal Embassy, Ayadi said.
Nepal’s neighbours, including India, have swung into action with government sending disaster management and relief teams to Kathmandu and other quake-hit areas of Nepal to help with search, rescue and medical aid. So have international relief organisations, which typically have stocks of relief material to deploy at a moment’s notice to disaster-stricken zones along with food and drinking water.
Doctors Without Borders, the international medical charity also known by its French initials MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres), has between 4,000 to 6,000 non-food aid kits ready at a warehouse in Manesar. “We can provide for 6,000 families and if it is a bigger disaster we are standard suppliers who can make these kits on immediate and urgent basis,” said Amit Kaushik, the head of fundraising at MSF. Each kit comprises a tent or tarpaulin sheet, a hygiene kit to help people take baths and clean up and basic cooking utensils.
Both the IFRC and MSF, however, sound a note of caution to those wanting to volunteer. Disaster relief requires expertise and untrained volunteers can get in the way. “People's motivation to help is noble and well appreciated," said Rabe (disclosure: he writes a regular music column for Scroll). "But on the ground you need people who are well trained in some area of expertise as well as who have experience of working as part of a massive global system that includes government, military forces, local authorities, Red Cross, NGOs, UN, police, hospitals etc. Unfortunately 'raw' volunteers are again, more of a liability and could endanger themselves and others if they are not well prepared.”
Most humanitarian organisations work with a network of volunteers that already have medical, paramedical and disaster management training.
The best way to make that donation is to the appeal of a reputable organization that has announced that it is open for such collection. So while you get your wallet out, here’s a short list of organisations you can donate to help survivors of the Nepal catastrophe.
- Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE)
- International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
- Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (government of India)
- Oxfam
- Save the Children
- UNICEF
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Within hours of the disaster, humanitarian organisations opened online and offline avenues for donation. “Cash donations are gold. It is most useful, easy to turn into assistance and flexible,” said Nathan Rabe, Asia Pacific coordinator for humanitarian diplomacy at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in an email to Scroll.
The money is flowing in even to smaller efforts like one by the Nepalese students at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, which has raised Rs 60,000 from students and staff in less than 24 hours. “After collecting this money, we are thinking of depositing it into the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund,” said Arjun Ayadi, a student from Nepal and one of the organisers of this drive. Ayadi has established contact with his family in Kathmandu who are safe but living out in the open for now. The JNU students might undertake collecting relief material like tents and blankets later but will leave the logistics up to the Nepal Embassy, Ayadi said.
Nepal’s neighbours, including India, have swung into action with government sending disaster management and relief teams to Kathmandu and other quake-hit areas of Nepal to help with search, rescue and medical aid. So have international relief organisations, which typically have stocks of relief material to deploy at a moment’s notice to disaster-stricken zones along with food and drinking water.
Doctors Without Borders, the international medical charity also known by its French initials MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres), has between 4,000 to 6,000 non-food aid kits ready at a warehouse in Manesar. “We can provide for 6,000 families and if it is a bigger disaster we are standard suppliers who can make these kits on immediate and urgent basis,” said Amit Kaushik, the head of fundraising at MSF. Each kit comprises a tent or tarpaulin sheet, a hygiene kit to help people take baths and clean up and basic cooking utensils.
Both the IFRC and MSF, however, sound a note of caution to those wanting to volunteer. Disaster relief requires expertise and untrained volunteers can get in the way. “People's motivation to help is noble and well appreciated," said Rabe (disclosure: he writes a regular music column for Scroll). "But on the ground you need people who are well trained in some area of expertise as well as who have experience of working as part of a massive global system that includes government, military forces, local authorities, Red Cross, NGOs, UN, police, hospitals etc. Unfortunately 'raw' volunteers are again, more of a liability and could endanger themselves and others if they are not well prepared.”
Most humanitarian organisations work with a network of volunteers that already have medical, paramedical and disaster management training.
The best way to make that donation is to the appeal of a reputable organization that has announced that it is open for such collection. So while you get your wallet out, here’s a short list of organisations you can donate to help survivors of the Nepal catastrophe.
- Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE)
- International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
- Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (government of India)
- Oxfam
- Save the Children
- UNICEF