News

Responding to Earthquakes in Haiti and Chile

On January 12th, Haiti experienced a devastating earthquake, measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale. An astonishing 200,000 people are believed dead, and 3 million people are in urgent need of assistance—now to address the current humanitarian crisis and even more so in the months ahead, as Haitians begin to rebuild their devastated nation. More recently, one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded history hit Chile. While there were far fewer deaths than in Haiti, the level of destruction was enormous and need for emergency and long-term support is great.

For donors wishing to respond to the crisis in Haiti, Grantmakers Without Borders recommends the following organizations:

• American Jewish World Service; www.ajws.org
• Global Fund for Children; www.globalfundforchildren.org
• GlobalGiving; www.globalgiving.org
• GO Campaign; www.gocampaign.org
• Grassroots International; www.grassrootsonline.org
• Groundswell; www.groundswellinternational.org
• Lambi Fund of Haiti; www.lambifund.org/

For donors wishing to respond to the crisis in Chile, Grantmakers Without Borders recommends the following organizations:

• Fondo Alquimia; http://www.fondoalquimia.org/
• GlobalGiving; www.globalgiving.org
• Global Greengrants Fund; www.greengrants.org
• International Community Foundation; http://www.icfdn.org
• Mercy Corps; http://www.mercycorps.org/chileearthquake

Before considering making a donation to Haiti, Gw/oB recommends reading this valuable article from the New York Times, which discusses the problem of overfunding some organizations while others are underfunded. Click here.

For advice on effective disaster response grantmaking, we recommend reviewing Gw/oB's Tsunami Learning Project:
• Download the Executive Summary (*.pdf format)
• Download the Full Report (*.pdf format)

For excellent advice on disaster response in Haiti, we recommend "From Disaster Aid to Solidarity: Best Practices in Meeting the Needs of Haiti's Earthquake Survivors" by Beverly Bell, at http://www.otherworldsarepossible.org/another-haiti-possible/disaster-aid-report.

Human rights organizations are working hard to ensure that human right issues are central to the global community's response to Haiti. Here are some valuable resources on this perspective:
• The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
• A Call for Human Rights-Based Approach to Humanitarian Assistance for Haiti (*.pdf format)

Organizations committed to gender equality and the rights of women and girls are working hard to ensure that the unique needs of women and girls are responded to during and after this crisis and that women play a central role in policy-making for the reconstruction of Haiti. Here are some valuable resources on this perspective and practice:
• The Gender and Disaster Network
• Guidelines for Gender Sensitive Disaster Management (*.pdf format)
• Gender Handbook in Humanitarian Action
• Gender Equality and Humanitarian Assistance (*.pdf format)
• Making Disaster Risk Reduction Gender Sensitive (*.pdf format)

Grantmakers Without Borders' Criteria for Disaster Response

1. First and foremost, provide unrestricted general funding to allow resources to go where they are most urgently needed.
2. Give only to those organizations with an existing presence in the region and a broad familiarity with local conditions, customs and politics. Avoid well-meaning but inexperienced organizations.
3. Give only to organizations that engage local community members in all aspects of disaster response and recovery. Avoid top-down responders.
4. Prioritize organizations with a strong focus on gender and the ways in which women are differently impacted during and after an emergency.
5. Prioritize organizations that link emergency response with recovery and long-term rehabilitation and that build local capacities.

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