Huge earthquake in Iran leaves hundreds dead, thousands homeless. Heartbreaking slide show. The US best step-up and help them. Red Cross set up a donations page.
‘People need help’: Iran hospitals swamped by earthquake victims
(Photo: Handout / Reuters)
Overcrowded hospitals in northwestern Iran struggled to cope with thousands of earthquake victims on Sunday and rescuers raced to reach remote villages after two powerful quakes killed nearly 300 people.
Thousands huddled in makeshift camps or slept in the street after Saturday’s quakes in fear of more aftershocks, 60 of which had already struck. A lack of tents and other supplies left them exposed to the night chill, one witness told Reuters.
![reuters:
DEVELOPING: The Red Cross says it has recovered the bodies of two journalists killed in Homs, Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik.
Photo: A Turkish journalist holds portraits of American correspondent Marie Colvin (R) and French photographer Remi Ochlik during a demonstration against the killings of journalists in Syria, in front of the Syrian Embassy in Ankara, February 24, 2012. [REUTERS/Umit Bektas]
Read more: ICRC says journalists bodies to be taken to Damascus
Let’s hope their bodies eventually find their way home safely.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m09op1fUOy1qmaoalo1_500.jpg)
DEVELOPING: The Red Cross says it has recovered the bodies of two journalists killed in Homs, Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik.
Photo: A Turkish journalist holds portraits of American correspondent Marie Colvin (R) and French photographer Remi Ochlik during a demonstration against the killings of journalists in Syria, in front of the Syrian Embassy in Ankara, February 24, 2012. [REUTERS/Umit Bektas]
Read more: ICRC says journalists bodies to be taken to Damascus
Let’s hope their bodies eventually find their way home safely.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has repeatedly betrayed the trust conferred on it by the local population and, in the recent weeks, falsely accused the Mujahideen (Shabaab fighters) of hindering food distribution.A statement from al-Shabaab • Discussing its decision to bar the Red Cross from the parts of Somalia it controls. That’s right: al-Shabaab is blocking humanitarian aid from being distributed over accusations by the Red Cross that they’re already blocking humanitarian aid from getting distributed. You can’t make this stuff up.
Are you near the worst of Hurricane Irene, possibly riding out the storm? The Red Cross has a site where you can tell family members that you’re “Safe and Well.” Please use wisely, folks.
Suleiman Fortiya, Misrata’s representative to the National Transitional Council said that he had seen helicopters marked with the emblems of the aid agencies dropping mines into Misrata on Friday. He said, “They had Red Crescent and Red Cross markers so that anyone who sees them thinks it is for humanitarian aid.”
NATO says that it is aware of the reports, although it could not confirm.
Let’s hope this isn’t true, because it’s beyond sinister if it its.
» Yukiyo Edano says speed it up: Edano, the Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, explained that the standard procedure is for independent panels throughout the prefectures to decide how to handle the money; basically, distribution at the local level. This can slow the whole process when these communities are in such disarray, though, which is why Edano believes the central government should set up an independent committee. The Red Cross, it bears mentioning, has sent over 200 crisis relief teams into stricken areas. And it must be said in the strongest possible terms that we don’t mean to discourage people who either have, or want to donate to Japan’s relief efforts. Rather, we think it’s worth understanding the functional realities that can hamstring those efforts. But the donations are nonetheless noble, vital, and necessary; none of this changes that.
In light of the recent disasters, our hearts are focused on the vibrant and wonderful community in Japan. Your resilience is inspiring, and we hope that recovery will be swift and complete. 少しでも皆さんの力となり、一日でも早く日常の生活が取り戻せる事を願います。
As of today, Japanese is now the newest language available on Tumblr. We’re very grateful for our amazing members in the Japanese community, and we hope you’ll find the new option useful. You can change your language setting on your Preferences page.
You can also keep up with news from Japan via the #Japan tag page.
To aid the relief and emergency efforts, we’re asking all of our members to contribute to Red Cross International from your Dashboard. Look for the message on the sidebar. Members who donate will unlock the Limited Edition Japanese Tumblr Logo, and Tumblr will match your contributions up to $15,000.
日本の皆さま, 頑張ってください
Love, タンブラー
Great move.
1000 reblogs = $10
10000 reblogs = $100 .. and so on
Okay, we know, we know, it’s shameless self promotion. We will be using the increased traffic from our website to fund this donation. We will be sending Red Cross the check for the Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami.
UPDATE: We forgot to add what we’d do if someone were to “like” the post. We will combine the reblogs and likes we got from our last post along with the reblogs and likes we get from this post.
We wish we can donate more, but it’s all we can handle. If you would like to donate directly to the cause, please click here.
We will be donating 1 cent per every reblog, 1 cent for every like and 5 cents per every new follower we get. We’ll be sending the check to American Red Cross.
Email us at what@viaSQUARED.com for any questions regarding this.
EDIT! Hopefully this will get enough notes, but if it gets too many, we’d have to stop it at 50000!
In regards to our earlier post about Red Cross reblog schemes, this appears legit but extremely unsavory. Shameless self-promotion? Not fans. Not fans at all. This is Kenneth Cole territory to us. (Note that we did not reblog this.)
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Now is not the time for knee-jerk contrarian opinions, Tumblr. If someone is trying to encourage people to donate, don’t act as if it’s the wrong thing to do just because of Japan’s wealth. It’s unfair to those looking to help and looking to make an effort. We saw someone posting something along the lines of Japan not needing help because they’re rich and don’t need the money, and criticizing people for forgetting about Haiti. The person also said to donate to Democrats and Independents. We debated reblogging it because we so disagreed with the sentiment, but we thought it was unfair to the reader to get the Internet Rage Police on them. Rather, we’d like to suggest to those at large to find better ways to be productive than treating people like they’re sheep who jerk their knees at a moment’s notice. (Note: To be clear, this is different than being critical of the Red Cross. If you disagree with their policies, that’s a fair debate to make, because it encourages others to consider donating elsewhere if they think it’s a better use of their money.)
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