NPR this morning said the death toll in Myanmar may reach over 100,000. It’s getting worse, of course, because no aid can get past the government.
The only “rule” I’ve heard repeated over and over when it comes to disaster relief giving is “Give to organizations that already have a presence on the ground.” In the case of Myanmar, where the government isn’t letting any new foreign aid organizations in, this would seem to be especially critical.
See this excellent post by Alanna Shaikh, a real live international development worker who shares her insights with the rest of us on her blog “Blood and Milk.”
(By the way, I’d be interested to know why some folks still call the region Burma and others go with Myanmar. Since Alanna and others certainly aren’t ignorant or uninformed, it seems to me it must be a conscious choice. Is this a political statement against the current military regime? Insights welcome.)
