Disaster Remembrance Week

The WorldWideHelp Group is promoting this week on the internet as Disaster Remembrance Week.

As regular readers of Gill Blog know well, thinking ahead about disaster preparedness is a full-time business. On a worldwide scale, this past year has been especially disastrous.

Parts of South Asia have still not recovered from December 26th, 2004. In the USA, normalcy hasn't returned to New Orleans. In Pakistan, thousands are still homeless, and may not survive the harsh Himalayan winter.

They need your help.

Last December and this January, the online community came together as never before to help in the aid efforts in South-East Asia. The lessons learned there were put to use, and improved upon, when the other tragic events of the year unfolded.

Can we harness that goodwill, that togetherness, that willingness to help once more?

In the cases of the disasters of last year, reconstruction is now the priority.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has unveiled its revised plan of action for 2005-2010 to assist victims of the devastating tsunami which left at least 227,000 people dead and affected more than 2.2 million in countries bordering the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004. With a total budget of nearly 2.4 billion Swiss francs, the five-year plan will concentrate on the reconstruction of housing and rebuilding livelihoods, with 54% of the funds earmarked for these fields.

Please continue to give generously to the charity of your choice.