Peru Earthquake Volunteers?

No Comments | August 31st, 2007 | Trackback

…probably not.

I’ve heard it said that the most common, most effective and least recognized volunteers in natural disaster situations are often local residents – the very ones affected by the disaster – who work together to help each other out . Another common point is that volunteers without appropriate training may end up adding to the general confusion despite their good intentions to help. If you happen to be there, by all means, do what you can, but the general recommendation is usually that supplies, funds, and skills or know-how are needed initially.

You can read about larger scale aid efforts, most of which involve either mobilizing highly qualified specialists like doctors or assist with procuring supplies and other infrastructure (fixing damaged water pipes, etc.).

Care
USAid
Doctors Without Borders
The World Food Programme
Architecture for Humanity points out that months after this disaster, great need will remain, but public attention will have gone down greatly. Accordingly, they are trying to collect donations now.

What else can you do? Go there. Not to volunteer in relief efforts, but in the next few years to spend your money as a tourist.

In Has New Orleans Bounced Back?, the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau President says:

“Tourism has been the one really functioning, broad-based industry since the storm, and in many ways it has really carried a lot of the city’s positive recovery messages on its back.”

Donating money or other supplies is another option, and often a good one.

But which organization is the best, and which kind of donation can go the farthest? Are there any that may do more harm than good? I think a definitive answer would need to come from someone who is not only involved in relief efforts but also knows Peru and the theme of aid in general well. It would be silly for me to presume I can provide that answer simply because I write this blog and have strong opinions about aid. I can, however, highlight some information that I found useful in broadening my views on the topic in general.

One way to determine which organization to support or what help is actually most needed is to educate yourself about the situation. Reuters Alert Net has articles about humanitarian issues, including the situation in Peru. Here are a few specific articles from the BBC and CNN.

Other articles about the reasons it makes sense to carry out aid well are Good Intentions Not Enough from IRIN news and Asia’s Deadly Waves: Coordination, about the tsunami relief efforts [you have to register for the New York Times Select to read it, but there is a two-week free trial after which you can cancel].

I suppose my point is: it is complicated what is really best, and it is not necessarily the very first thing that comes to mind and “sounds good”.

Of course there’s no question that in the time of a disaster, action is needed and organizations should do what they currently can. But there’s also no question that it is valuable to take past events into account, and to question assumptions such as “western aid agencies always know best” and the equivalent of “ it’s better to do something for affected people instead of helping them do it themselves.”

Those who work in aid likely have opportunities to form their own opinions on these things. For those of us who don’t – one way to start to learn is likely to get involved in other forms of aid projects in more normal (non-disaster) circumstances…such as volunteering abroad.