Northwest native helps youth help hurricane victims in the South

Northwest native helps youth help hurricane victims in the South: "“We are taking our high school youth on a trip that replaces our summer camps, and we are working on Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. This is a sort of service camp for the youth and it ends up being a great opportunity for them, as well as a really great thing for all the people down in the area that was hit by the hurricane. There is still so much to do and we can really help and make a difference,” she explained."

Inside Bay Area - Network of nonprofits vital to disaster response

Inside Bay Area - Network of nonprofits vital to disaster response: "Network of nonprofits vital to disaster response
Article Last Updated: 03/01/2007 05:20:50 AM PST

WE'VE learned a lot since the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the calamitous response to Hurricane Katrina. Whether the disaster is manmade or natural, being prepared makes all the difference. In the Bay Area, where we live with the certainty of a major earthquake, the lessons are all the more relevant.

One of the lessons is the crucial role of nonprofit organizations as the major sources of shelter, food and other necessities during disasters. A new collective has formed to improve the preparation, cooperation and coordination of such organizations. A coordinated approach is not only smart, it's a must."

Microsoft CEO, Ballmer, Visits New Orleans With Katrina Gift

Microsoft CEO, Ballmer, Visits New Orleans With Katrina Gift: "Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, came to New Orleans area to an economic revitalization package that will assist victims of Hurricane Katrina by a donation of $1.7 million in donations of cash, software and specialized curriculum to several nonprofit partners in Louisiana and Texas. Microsoft is supporting existing local government, academic and nonprofit organizations as they rebuild and establish community infrastructure, technology and work-force training centers. These centers support displaced residents in accessing the technology skills training they need to succeed in today’s technology-driven economy."

Volunteer Group Lags in Replacing Gulf Houses - New York Times

Volunteer Group Lags in Replacing Gulf Houses - New York Times: "Correction Appended

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. — In the two years following the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, Habitat for Humanity International, the nondenominational Christian ministry, built or repaired 8,500 houses in Indonesia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka."

ESPN.com - NCAA - UCF students spur national effort to help New Orleans

ESPN.com - NCAA - UCF students spur national effort to help New Orleans: "A group of sports business management students at the University of Central Florida on Wednesday announced the creation of a new foundation and a national student-led effort to help Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in New Orleans.

Students from the DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program at UCF, with the National Consortium for Academics and Sport and the DeVos Program, started the Hope for Stanley Foundation [www.HopeforStanley.org] to organize students from more than 150 other sport business management programs and student-athletes from among the 220 NCAS-member colleges and universities. The New Orleans City Council is helping."

Reuters AlertNet - WITNESS-Rolling up my sleeves after the tsunami

Reuters AlertNet - WITNESS-Rolling up my sleeves after the tsunami: "ADAPAKKAM, India, Feb 15 (Reuters) - A laptop, notebook and pens are my usual travelling tools. I never expected to be packing a hard hat, steel-capped boots and a pile of dust masks.

But they were on the 'must bring' list for 20 Reuters employees who had volunteered to spend a week building houses for a community devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami."

Money on the way for flood victims in Indonesia - New Europe News: #1 The European News Source

Money on the way for flood victims in Indonesia - New Europe News: #1 The European News Source: "The European Commission on February 7 said it was sending some 600,000 Euro in emergency aid to help the victims of ongoing floods in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. EU funds will be used to provide some 340,000 most affected people with food, clean water, emergency shelter and health services."

Fla. storm victims complain of red tape - Yahoo! News

Fla. storm victims complain of red tape - Yahoo! News: "Some victims of the severe storms that hit Florida complained of delays and red tape Monday as they sought disaster aid, despite assurances from federal officials that the government had learned from its response to Hurricane Katrina."

FEMA wants over $300M in Katrina aid back - Yahoo! News

FEMA wants over $300M in Katrina aid back - Yahoo! News: "n the neighborhood
President Bush visited right after Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. government gave $84.5 million to more than 10,000 households. But Census figures show fewer than 8,000 homes existed there at the time.
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Now the government wants back a lot of the money it disbursed across the region.

The Federal Emergency Management Administration has determined nearly 70,000 Louisiana households improperly received $309.1 million in grants, and officials acknowledge those numbers are likely to grow."

Tampa Bay Newspapers : Front Page

Tampa Bay Newspapers : Front Page : "Cash donations needed
Killer tornadoes leave path of destruction
PINELLAS COUNTY – The death count rose to as many as 20 on Sunday, as officials continued to assess the damage from three killer tornadoes that tore through central Florida early Friday morning.

As of Saturday night, the state medical examiners office had confirmed 15 deaths, and the National Weather Service’s preliminary damage surveys reported 20 known deaths attributable to at least three separate tornadoes.

Gov. Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency on Friday for Lake, Seminole, Sumter and Volusia counties due to the massive destruction caused by the storms. President George Bush on Sunday signed a federal declaration of emergency for the same counties."

Press Releases: South Asia: Earthquake - Oct 2005, Pakistan: Korean volunteer team helps build 40 shelters for Pakistan earthquake survivors

Press Releases: South Asia: Earthquake - Oct 2005, Pakistan: Korean volunteer team helps build 40 shelters for Pakistan earthquake survivors: "Pakistan: Korean volunteer team helps build 40 shelters for Pakistan earthquake survivors


Volunteers include Pakistani student who returns to hometown to assist

BALAKOT, Pakistan, 30th January 2007: Amid near freezing temperatures, student volunteers from South Korea spent a week building more substantial homes for survivors of the October 2005 earthquake that devastated the area around Balakot, Pakistan."

Reuters AlertNet - Accountability: a report card

Reuters AlertNet - Accountability: a report card: "he story of humanitarian accountability is not yet one of success. After more than a decade of debate about performance, standards and giving beneficiaries a say, accountability problems continue to plague international disaster responses. A sector-wide study by the Tsunami Evaluation Coalition, published in July 2006, concluded that poor accountability to affected populations was a significant problem in the response to the Indian Ocean tsunami, and the UN Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, Bill Clinton, has launched an 'intensive review' into accountability to beneficiaries. According to Save the Children, aid workers are still trading food aid for sex with young girls in Liberia – several years after this unacceptable practice was originally discovered. Displaced people in Darfur have told the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) that they feel undervalued by NGOs, know little about what these organisations are trying to achieve, and – therefore – do not cooperate with them. A survey of 320 informed individuals, conducted by HAP in March 2006, showed a majority view that relief agencies were unaccountable to intended beneficiaries. Some 81% of respondents said the quality of accountability to beneficiaries was 'low' or 'medium' – while 82% said that accountability to official donors was 'high'."

2theadvocate.com | News | Charity revamps disaster operation

2theadvocate.com | News | Charity revamps disaster operation: "Cross’ abilities as they have never been tested before, and critics said the charity didn’t measure up.

But one strength seemed intact for the 126-year-old charity: its ability to raise money.

Donors gave the Red Cross about $2.14 billion in the months after hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma struck the Gulf Coast. The agency spent about $1.9 billion of it on disaster victims, Laura Howe, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross’ Washington, D.C., office, said Friday."

U.N. envoy says officials working to deter and uncover tsunami aid corruption - Americas - International Herald Tribune

U.N. envoy says officials working to deter and uncover tsunami aid corruption - Americas - International Herald Tribune: "U.N. envoy says officials working to deter and uncover tsunami aid corruption
The Associated Press
Published: January 4, 2007

WASHINGTON: The United Nations deputy envoy for Asian tsunami rebuilding efforts said Thursday that officials are working to deter and uncover corruption associated with the billions of dollars (euros) international donors have pledged to people hurt by the 2004 disaster.

Eric Schwartz, deputy to former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the top U.N. envoy for tsunami recovery, said anti-corruption measures include databases designed to track financial contributions and to make that information available on the Internet.

Cooperation with some countries has been very good, while in other nations it has been 'much more slow going because of the complexities. But, nonetheless, serious effort has been made,' Schwartz told reporters at the National Press Club."

Tags: NPDisasterRelief

The News Leader - www.newsleader.com - Staunton, Va.-Pastor recalls missionary trip

The News Leader - www.newsleader.com - Staunton, Va.: "Kline went to Kerala, India, with five other members of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board to help deliver school uniforms and supplies to 2,000 children. Families who lost all of their belongings in the tsunami couldn't comply with Indian government regulations that require children to wear uniforms to school.

The Virginia Baptist Mission Board, part of the Richmond-based Baptist General Association of Virginia, focused its tsunami relief efforts in the southern Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu,"

Tags: NPDisasterRelief, NPTsunamiRelief

GAO says taxpayers are Katrina 'victims' | IndyStar.com

GAO says taxpayers are Katrina 'victims' | IndyStar.com: "GAO says taxpayers are Katrina 'victims'


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USA Today
The government continues to waste tens of millions of dollars in its Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, including giving rent checks to evacuees already living in free housing and student aid to ineligible foreigners, U.S. investigators said this past week.

The Government Accountability Office also found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been able to recoup only $7 million of the more than $1 billion in improper payments identified by investigators months ago."

Tags: NPDisasterRelief

People's Daily Online -- Aceh relief work far from expectation

People's Daily Online -- Aceh relief work far from expectation: "Aceh relief work far from expectation
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Despite achievements, reconstruction and rehabilitation in Indonesia's Aceh province in nearly two years after the tsunami are still far from people's expectation, scores of problems and lack of managerial capabilities are among the obstacles, said local officials and ex- rebel leaders.

Hundreds of survivors of the December 2004 catastrophe still live in barracks and tents, as they have yet got houses promised by the relief agency.

Of the 128,000 houses planned to be built, only some 50,000 so far have been delivered, spokesman of the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) Mirza Kumala said, adding that over 17, 000 others now were being reconstructed."

Bloggers Team Up with Online Nonprofit to Deliver Christmas to Katrina Families - Yahoo! News

Bloggers Team Up with Online Nonprofit to Deliver Christmas to Katrina Families - Yahoo! News: "The social media movement has sparked an adoption frenzy this holiday season and is changing the face of philanthropy. Thanks to www.postsanta.com, www.hurricane-katrina.org, and www.katrinasangels.org, three online, virtual entities, Christmas will arrive for families who are still struggling with the realities after Hurricane Katrina from those who want to make a real difference. The three Web sites not only highlight the ongoing difficulties for those in the New Orleans area trying to rebuild their lives, but they are also a vital link between those in need and those who want to donate food, money, even Christmas trees. They are all engaged in innovative, transformational, change the world media, with a shared vision to catalyze their online endeavors to help the Gulf Coast recover"

Tsunami parents forced to give up children - World - Times Online

Tsunami parents forced to give up children - World - Times Online: "Tsunami parents forced to give up children
Nick Meo

Parents impoverished by the 2004 tsunami are still being forced to put their children into orphanages because they cannot afford to care for them, according to a British charity.

Thousands of children in the Indonesian province of Aceh have been institutionalised, even though more than 85 per cent have at least one living parent and 42 per cent have both parents alive."

In the heat of US NGO pledges, Bill Clinton visits Tsunami-devastated South Asia Region to accelerate recovery | Asian Tribune

In the heat of US NGO pledges, Bill Clinton visits Tsunami-devastated South Asia Region to accelerate recovery | Asian Tribune: "Former U.S. president Bill Clinton as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery is now in the tsunami-affected Asian Region in the heat of positive pledges he received in October by major U.S. non-governmental organizations to accelerate the recovery process of 14 countries which lost 230,000 lives leaving 1.7 million homeless and destroying schools, hospitals, government buildings and other structures devastating the livelihood of millions."