Tsunami Aid: Where to Donate Online

Man

y relief organizations have set up Websites to take donations for aid to victims of the South Asia tsunami. Below is a partial listing; in addition, several blogs, such as The Command Post and Tsunami Help, also provide good information on where and how to donate. You can also go to Network for Good to donate to multiple aid organizations.

Relief organizations stress that cash contributions are the most effective, because of the expense involved in transporting donations of goods like food or clothing to Asia. Some aid organizations, and where to donate online:

International Committee of the Red Cross
This is the major relief provider in the area and one of the few organizations actively helping people trace lost relatives. It has pledged to raise $8.5 million worldwide for emergency aid

Doctors Without Borders
The group has dispatched 54 tons of medical and sanitation equipment to northern Sumatra and Colombo and opened a clinic in Aceh, near the epicenter of the earthquake

UNICEF
South Asia Tsunami Relief Fund of the United Nations’ International Children’s Emergency Fund

CARE
CARE volunteers in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand are providing survivors with water purification tablets and oral rehydration salts to combat water-borne diseases

Oxfam
Oxfam, which is concentrating its efforts in the worst hit areas, has flown 27 tons of emergency equipment to Sri Lanka and Indonesia and is distributing food and shelter supplies from its base in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka

UN World Food Programme
The UN organization has airlifted two shipments of food aid to Colombo and the Maldives as part of its $1.5 million pledge to disaster victims

UNHCR
The UN’s refugee agency is leading the organization’s effort to shelter displaced people and has already delivered tents, kitchen sets and plastic sheeting to thousands in Aceh and Sri Lanka

ReliefWeb
This site, organized by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, contains news and documents related to major humanitarian crises around the world

Save the Children
Has local teams in Aceh treating children for water-borne diseases and emotional trauma

World Vision
World Vision is collecting money for family survival kits that will include blankets, tarps, water purification tablets and cooking supplies

Salvation Army
The group is giving “practical aid and spiritual comfort” in Sri Lanka, India and Aceh and Nias Island in Indonesia, by setting up feeding centers, distributing clothing and blankets in relief camps and counseling relatives of victims

Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is working with local organizations in India and Sri Lanka to distribute provisions and has emergency teams in Padang and Banda Aceh

Catholic Relief Services
The organization has pledged $25 million in aid to India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia and has already begun providing food and medical assistance in the affected areas with partner agency Caritas India

American Jewish World Service
The group is working with non-governmental organizations in the disaster region to provide emergency food, shelter and medical relief and long-term development support

Islamic Relief Services
Islamic Relief Worldwide has launched an appeal to raise $4 million for relief intervention and rehabilitation in the region, with $54,000 earmarked for Sri Lanka and Indonesia

Lutheran World Relief
Will help rebuild infrastructure damaged by the tsunami and provide aid and counseling to victims

International Orthodox Christian Charities
Focusing relief efforts on the hardest-hit areas of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India

Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund
Donate online to the Indian relief fund

Kintera.org Non-Profit
Donate to many non-profits here