Tsunami news Your Help is Needed #
Last night we were talking with Keith Pleas. Keith is a developer that we've known for more than a decade now. He worked on the help system in Windows 95. He also owned a furniture shop where he imported from around the world, particularly in the Asian Pacific. So, he's well connected in that part of the world.
Last night he told us that we haven't even heard how bad the tsunami was. He told of one island where 20,000 people used to live. He said he heard that only 600 lived.
Today the death toll was increased to 116,000 (thanks to Memeorandum for the link). That's a number that's beyond our comprehension.
One of Keith's friends, Susi, who lives in Bali and travels frequently to Indonesia, has started a blog: the Aceh Aid Bucket Brigade.
Blogs, like Susi's, are now helping build new kinds of relief networks and news networks.
By the way, Susi reports that Continental Airlines is opening its doors wide. Corporate giving is really important at times like these. It's where corporations can show they are important parts of our society. Congrats to eBay, Google, Amazon (you can donate there with one click), Apple for linking to relief efforts.
This is going to take years of giving to help fix. Microsoft has released an official statement:
"We are deeply saddened by this tragedy. We are committed to assisting the relief effort with cash, volunteer and technology resources and we are actively discussing ways that we can help with numerous international and local aid organizations. Over the past 48 hours our corporate headquarters and local Asia Pacific offices have identified in-country organizations who are providing critical support to the victims of this devastating event. We will continue to work with these local organizations to monitor the situation and determine needs for ongoing support. In addition to our corporate efforts many of our offices around the world have responded by setting up employee-giving programs."
We'd like to give a shout out to our coworkers in India who are giving one-day's salary to this effort. More of us will join that effort.
Our subsidiaries have reported what agencies they are donating funds and help to. Our branch in Indonesia is supporting the Palang Merah Indonesia (Red Cross of Indonesia) http://www.palangmerah.org. Our office in Sri Lanka is supporting Sarvodaya. http://www.sarvodaya.lk. Our subsidiary in Thailand is supporting the Office of Prime Minister Disaster Relief Fund. http://www.opm.go.th/opminter. In India we're supporting the MS Swaminathan Foundation, http://www.mssrf.org and the Prime Minister's Relief Fund http://www.pminidia.nic.in, among others.
But, back on topic. Others are writing about how to help as well. Om Malik, senior writer at Business 2.0 magazine, is keeping a Tsunami Help Campaign page.
TechWeb writes about another set of organizations that are helping out.
What else can we do? Let us know.