Tens of thousands still living in tents 5 years after Haiti earthquake | The Miami Herald

Tens of thousands still living in tents 5 years after Haiti earthquake | The Miami Herald: "PORT-AU-PRINCE
When Jackson Morrisseau learned that he was approved for a new constructed government-sponsored house on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, the retired father of two thought he finally found deliverance after losing almost everything in the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake.

But months after moving into the small yellow house, Morrisseau, 60, is having second thoughts."



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Former Haiti official: We have no idea where all that recovery money went | WashingtonExaminer.com

Former Haiti official: We have no idea where all that recovery money went | WashingtonExaminer.com: "Nearly five years after a 7.0 magnitude quake killed hundreds of thousands of its citizens, Haiti’s recovery efforts remain muddled and confused, with the whereabouts of the billions of dollars pledged by the international community an apparent mystery to the country’s leaders.

“We don’t know where the money has gone,” Raymond Joseph, former ambassador of Haiti to the U.S., said Friday in an interview on Bloomberg’s “Market Makers.”"



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Refugee charity seeks to develop disaster relief - FT.com

Refugee charity seeks to develop disaster relief - FT.com: "In the world of emergency responses, cash is the new king. After decades of building vast logistical operations to deliver food, tarpaulins, tents and other supplies to disaster zones increasingly relief agencies have begun to accept that sometimes what the victims really need is just a bit of cash.
But there’s a problem. Even cash takes time. It can take six weeks before agencies can distribute the money to the people who need it — an eternity in the disaster relief world. Could they instead find a way to distribute cash responsibly just a few days after a typhoon or tsunami?"



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Who’s Afraid of Occupy Wall Street? The Red Cross, Apparently - NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly

Who’s Afraid of Occupy Wall Street? The Red Cross, Apparently - NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly: "ProPublica and NPR have been doing an investigative series on the Red Cross focusing on its performance during Superstorm Sandy as well as other issues like possible misrepresentation to donors of the organization’s fundraising and overhead costs. The reporters are openly inviting people to help them with their “Red Cross Reporting.” (It is worth saying that reporting on the basis of anonymous sources, as is done in this article, is often a difficult sell, but in this case, there is corroboration in documents and in interviews with named individuals who worked with both the Red Cross and Occupy Sandy.)"



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Bob Geldof launches Band Aid Ebola challenge, takes fundraising to questionable heights - People - News - The Independent

Bob Geldof launches Band Aid Ebola challenge, takes fundraising to questionable heights - People - News - The Independent: "

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Canadian Red Cross Supporting Relief Efforts in Philippines as Typhoon Hagupit Makes Landfall

Canadian Red Cross Supporting Relief Efforts in Philippines as Typhoon Hagupit Makes Landfall: "With the support of the Canadian Red Cross, the Philippine Red Cross is better prepared to provide relief to communities affected by Typhoon Hagupit, which made landfall on the weekend. While the extent of damage has not yet fully been realized as emergency responders work around the clock to access remote communities, the Philippines is also bracing for potential flooding caused by the tropical storm."



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IRIN Asia | From Haiyan to Hagupit - what changed? | Philippines | Disaster Risk Reduction | Early Warning | Natural Disasters

IRIN Asia | From Haiyan to Hagupit - what changed? | Philippines | Disaster Risk Reduction | Early Warning | Natural Disasters: "acloban, the city that bore the bulk of the estimated 6,000-plus fatalities 13 months ago, has reported no casualties thus far.

“We evacuated sooner this year. People need longer than one to two days to evacuate,” Tacloban’s mayor Alfred Romualdez told IRIN, admitting he broke rules to suspend classes before the storm had even entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility. “People need three to four days to evacuate. You cannot force evacuation. Before they can think about evacuating, they need to borrow money from their employer. Then it takes at least one day to return home to provinces.” "



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Congress allocated billions for Sandy relief. So far, this is where it's been spent | US news | The Guardian

Congress allocated billions for Sandy relief. So far, this is where it's been spent | US news | The Guardian: "fter hurricane Sandy hit, Congress granted federal agencies a total of $48b for disaster recovery. Two years later, much of it still hasn’t been spent.

Surprising, right? It’s true: the Office of Housing and Urban Development (Hud) has received $15bn for community infrastructure, and has only spent 12%. Transportation has spent about the same of its $12bn allocation for things like subway upgrades. The Army Corps of Engineers got $5.4bn for coastline protection, and hasn’t even spent a billion. Even Homeland Security, which received more than $11bn for Fema’s immediate emergency response, still has almost half to spend.

So what is a realistic timeframe for spending federal money?"



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BBC News - Typhoon Hagupit: Storm weakens as it nears Philippine capital Manila

BBC News - Typhoon Hagupit: Storm weakens as it nears Philippine capital Manila: "At least 21 people were killed by the storm, the Red Cross said, with the eastern island of Samar worst hit, but it caused far less damage than feared.

Thousands of people are heading home after about a million people were evacuated from vulnerable areas.

The city of Tacloban, which bore the brunt of Super Typhoon Haiyan last year, has emerged relatively unscathed."



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BBC News - Powerful Typhoon Hagupit nears Philippines

BBC News - Powerful Typhoon Hagupit nears Philippines: "Tens of thousands of people have sought shelter as the powerful Typhoon Hagupit heads towards the Philippines.

Hagupit, known locally as Ruby, has gusts of up to 230km/h (143mph) and is due to hit land on Saturday evening."



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Western Union Launches Million-Dollar Global Challenge to Fight Ebola | Business Wire

PRESS RELEASE



Western Union Launches Million-Dollar Global Challenge to Fight Ebola | Business Wire: "D, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Western Union Company and The Western Union Foundation today launched a million-dollar global business challenge to help fight the Ebola outbreak, and announced a multi-faceted program in support of community relief efforts."



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‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ charity single comes under fire | Globalnews.ca

‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ charity single comes under fire | Globalnews.ca: "There’s a danger that this kind of appeal is slightly patronising,” British MP Malcolm Bruce told BBC Radio 4, “and gives the impression that Africa doesn’t have the capacity to do things for itself.”

Critics have also pointed out that many of those affected by Ebola are Muslim and, therefore, do not celebrate Christmas."



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How Bitcoin is Used in Combatting Ebola - NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly

How Bitcoin is Used in Combatting Ebola - NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly: "A group from Ghana has found a way to deploy cash donations more rapidly and more effectively directly to the front lines of the effort to contain Ebola in neighboring Sierra Leone. The distinctively African twist is that the solution combines Bitcoin and the now-ubiquitous African financial tool, the mobile phone.

Bitcoin Against Ebola is a nonprofit founded by Beam, a startup based in Accra, Ghana, which promotes Bitcoin technology as a way for Africans to transfer money cheaply and instantaneously."



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Queensland's disaster relief funding under threat from federal governmemnt

Queensland's disaster relief funding under threat from federal governmemnt: "National disaster funding to Queensland from the federal government is under serious threat with authorities wanting to reduce federal payouts from 75 per of costs to just 50 per cent of the costs.

A final decison wil be made before Christmas in the lead-up to Queensland's cyclone season."



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Queensland's disaster relief funding under threat from federal governmemnt

Queensland's disaster relief funding under threat from federal governmemnt: "National disaster funding to Queensland from the federal government is under serious threat with authorities wanting to reduce federal payouts from 75 per of costs to just 50 per cent of the costs.

A final decison wil be made before Christmas in the lead-up to Queensland's cyclone season."



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Queensland's disaster relief funding under threat from federal governmemnt

Queensland's disaster relief funding under threat from federal governmemnt: "National disaster funding to Queensland from the federal government is under serious threat with authorities wanting to reduce federal payouts from 75 per of costs to just 50 per cent of the costs.

A final decison wil be made before Christmas in the lead-up to Queensland's cyclone season."



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Haiti is not napping! - Columns - JamaicaObserver.com

Haiti is not napping! - Columns - JamaicaObserver.com: " I was sorry she was not in the room last Wednesday when a group of brilliant, caring individuals -- black, white and in-between -- gathered at the Hotel Karibe in Port-au-Prince for a working session of the Haiti Action Network, organised by the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI).

Denis O'Brien, chairman of Digicel, who has been partnering with the CGI in development programmes, noted that an MOU had been signed for the development of two cruise ports, and American Airlines had started flights to Cap Haitien in the north. The World Bank has also made a US$50-million grant to provide safe drinking water. Facilitated by CGI, the Marriott Group and Digicel have partnered in developing a hotel property in Port-au-Prince to be opened next February."



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Storytelling trumps smartphones in Ebola crisis, experts say | Reuters

Storytelling trumps smartphones in Ebola crisis, experts say | Reuters: " S torytelling and plays trump smartphones to deliver messages on Ebola in some communities, illustrating how new technologies have their limits in aid delivery, humanitarian experts said on Wednesday."



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Philanthropy & Hurricane Sandy | GrantCraft

Philanthropy & Hurricane Sandy | GrantCraft:



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Burroughs Wellcome Fund Fighting Ebola with Research | GrantCraft

Burroughs Wellcome Fund Fighting Ebola with Research | GrantCraft: "The World Health Organization predicts that the Ebola virus could spread to as many as 1.4 million people worldwide. Helping to advance the development of therapies and diagnostics to fight this deadly virus are a number of Burroughs Wellcome Fund awardees. These scientists were funded, however, not because of their Ebola research projects, but because of the problem-solving and innovative thinking they bring to the research enterprise."



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