UPDATED: While President Bush ramped up the United States’ official efforts to help
survivors in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Southwest
Asia Dec. 26, he called on Americans to go online to help survivors.
Flanked by former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton in a press
conference Monday morning, George W. Bush laid out his plans to support
relief operations in countries like Sri Lanka, Thailand and India, and told
Americans to visit the USA Freedom Corps Web site for a list of reliable
relief organizations to make donations.
Former presidents Bush and Clinton will lead the nation’s individual and
corporate efforts in disaster relief for the affected countries. In his
Monday morning press conference, Bush said donations already made by
citizens are an example for others to follow.
“We’re showing the compassion of our nation in the swift response,” he said
from the Roosevelt Room of the White House. “But the greatest source of
America’s generosity is not our government: it’s the good heart of the
American people. In the weeks since the tsunami struck, private citizens
have contributed millions of dollars for disaster relief and
reconstruction.”
The president said cash is the best way for Americans to support relief
efforts, and encouraged Americans to “contribute as they are able to do so.”
According to the USA Freedom Corps Web site, cash donations let
relief agencies buy the exact items needed in each of the affected
countries.
Online contributions are making a significant impact on relief efforts
worldwide. Little more than a week after the tsunami tore across the Indian
Ocean, online e-commerce site Amazon.com has raised
nearly $13 million in donations to the American Red Cross (ARC) from almost
160,000 individual contributors.
Yahoo donated a Web site on behalf
of the ARC, which allows individuals to donate money to the ARC in increments from $10 to $5,000.
According to the site, approximately $3.8 million from more than 37,000 people
has been raised so far.
The tech community, which delivered services
and information
just days after the catastrophe to help relief organizations, also continues
to aid survivors.
The operators at ReliefSearch.org
say they will donate 100 percent of the proceeds from its pay-per-click Web
search service to the ARC and Direct Relief International. They encourage
Web surfers to use the site’s search engine for the next 30 days or so,
rather than Google or Yahoo.
Ben Padnos, CEO of Done Ventures and owner of ReliefSearch.org, said he
hopes to get one million hits within the next month to raise between $100,000
and $200,000. Currently, he’s working to get the Web site’s click-through
traffic rates up from 10 cents to 15 cents.
The Internet community’s and America’s response to the disaster, he said,
has been nothing short of amazing.
“I think it’s just proof that the Internet is awesome, and what we can do as
far as getting the word out with the quick dissemination of information and
effort is awesome,” Padnos said. “We have a responsibility, especially here
in this country, where we’re so lucky to be where we are and have the
resources we have; to not make a difference would be a shame.”
As far as “the quick dissemination of
information,” one need look no further than the blog. Since day one of the
disaster, eyewitness reports have contributed immeasurably to describing the
extent of the tsunami’s destructive path.
Robert Scoble, author of the popular Scobleizer blog, said the
“word-of-mouth” network created by blogs is only getting more efficient with
time.
“It’s amazing how fast things move from blogs to mainstream press (and into
corporate
board rooms) lately,” he said in an e-mail interview. “Why? Because
connectors like me can watch a very large number of sources (and do PubSub
searches for, say, ‘earthquake,’ and watch what any blogger says about
earthquakes), and then we can link to those for our own readership. So, news
gets passed along the network very quickly.”
As the affected countries scramble to re-establish communication links,
another SMS
service for free, in the form of rebates for users who call to or from the
region. According to the ARC, phone and cellular service is possible —
though sporadic — in some parts of the region.
Until Wednesday, Vancouver, Canada-based Upside Wireless is letting its
account users use its online SMS service, with a rebate for its existing
users who’ve used the service since Friday.
Microsoft also joined the ranks of tech companies putting up in the face of disaster. Late last week, company officials announced they would
donate $2 million in immediate aid to local and international relief
agencies, and expect to donate another $1.5 million through a program
matching charitable contributions made by Microsoft employees worldwide.
