Wanna help? Give some money.
Whenever an earthquake or a similar disaster occurs, it is natural for everyone to help out. And the simplest, and most intuitive way to pitch in is to collect food, clothes, blankets, tents, toys, etc for the affected people, those who sometimes live halfway around the world. Moreover since most collection drives are impromptu, and not centrally co-ordinated, there is no actual feedback of the ground realities, of which items are needed most, what could be left till later and what is just going to be wasted. Moreover, while it is simple to just drive to the neighborhood collection drive and donate stuff, no body even questions the logistics of transportation, storage and distribution to the actual people who need it.
This point has always been raised, but is often drowned out in the amidst the publicity given to those who organize these collection drives. While no one can doubt their intentions, you can question the effectiveness of their methods. As most relief organizations tell you, they need only one thing at the time of such a catastrophe - CASH. Cash, whether in dollars, or euros, or pounds or rupees. Cash, because it is the most versatile of the resources available, and can be used to procure food, buy housing materials, obtain blankets or purchase medicines. Cash, because it is the simplest to transfer, easiest to store over sustained periods, and can be used to allocate resources just the way required. Cash, because it can be spent just the way it needs to be.
None of this was more obvious than in the recent tsunami in southeast Asia. Temporary shelter was needed to provide immediate housing facilities to the affected, even plastic sheets, serving as makeshift tents would suffice. And a wide variety of plastic, in all forms, colors, shapes and sizes were collected. But more often or not, they were never used. Why? Simple logic, the cost of transporting a sheet of plastic by air, from the Americas or Europe was significantly greater than that of procuring them locally. People contributed those plastics and felt that their job was done, but it was upto the relief organizations to get them to the final destination in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The logistics involved were so huge that it was decided that it was simple r just to buy locally made products.
And this is not the only example, there have been umpteen cases like these. If not for magnitude of the tragedy, stories like packets of pasta being sent to people who didnt know how to cook them, or meat cans being dropped into countries like India (which are predominantly vegetarian, and hence would never eat them) sound amusing. These could have easily been used to feed some hungry soul somewhere else, who knew what he was getting and appreciated the feelings of the giver. Rahter they represented a wastage of resources at this time of crisis.
As human beings it is our karma to help our fellow men, especially in times of need. But just as it is as important to do a job well, as much it is to get it done, similarly it is imperative not only to help, but to help correctly.
This point has always been raised, but is often drowned out in the amidst the publicity given to those who organize these collection drives. While no one can doubt their intentions, you can question the effectiveness of their methods. As most relief organizations tell you, they need only one thing at the time of such a catastrophe - CASH. Cash, whether in dollars, or euros, or pounds or rupees. Cash, because it is the most versatile of the resources available, and can be used to procure food, buy housing materials, obtain blankets or purchase medicines. Cash, because it is the simplest to transfer, easiest to store over sustained periods, and can be used to allocate resources just the way required. Cash, because it can be spent just the way it needs to be.
None of this was more obvious than in the recent tsunami in southeast Asia. Temporary shelter was needed to provide immediate housing facilities to the affected, even plastic sheets, serving as makeshift tents would suffice. And a wide variety of plastic, in all forms, colors, shapes and sizes were collected. But more often or not, they were never used. Why? Simple logic, the cost of transporting a sheet of plastic by air, from the Americas or Europe was significantly greater than that of procuring them locally. People contributed those plastics and felt that their job was done, but it was upto the relief organizations to get them to the final destination in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The logistics involved were so huge that it was decided that it was simple r just to buy locally made products.
And this is not the only example, there have been umpteen cases like these. If not for magnitude of the tragedy, stories like packets of pasta being sent to people who didnt know how to cook them, or meat cans being dropped into countries like India (which are predominantly vegetarian, and hence would never eat them) sound amusing. These could have easily been used to feed some hungry soul somewhere else, who knew what he was getting and appreciated the feelings of the giver. Rahter they represented a wastage of resources at this time of crisis.
As human beings it is our karma to help our fellow men, especially in times of need. But just as it is as important to do a job well, as much it is to get it done, similarly it is imperative not only to help, but to help correctly.
posted by Praveer @ 3:03 PM
1 Comments:
Money is very important and so is man power. when you have a huge calamity there will be lots of people ready to donate money but you need intelligent and honest people to use and distribute the money effectively. I guess both are equally important.
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