How Can I Help?
Humanitarian Organizations Working in The Disaster Region
Below is general information about how to help those in a disaster situation overseas. Donors should be aware that donations for the Iran earthquake response are subject to compliance with the Iranian Transactions Regulations, issued by the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and with any law or other regulation applicable to such donation. More information is available at http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/eotffc/ofac/.
The most efficient and effective way to help those affected
by a disaster overseas is to make a monetary donation to a
humanitarian organization that is implementing relief programs
in the affected region. There are a few different ways to
go about identifying such organizations:
- USAID may have a list on its website. Check USAID's
home page to see if the particular disaster is listed
in the "FEATURES" section. If
so, click on "Read more..." and then follow the
links in the "How Can I Help?" box.
- InterAction, an association of non-profit humanitarian
organizations, may have a list of responding members on
its website. Check InterAction
Members Respond: How You Can Help to see if the particular
disaster is listed.
- The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) maintains a website called ReliefWeb,
which is a repository of information, listed by disaster,
submitted by responding humanitarian organizations.
Monetary Donations
Monetary donations are the most effective form of assistance
because they allow humanitarian organizations to purchase
(often within the affected region itself) the exact type and
quantity of items needed by those affected by the crisis.
Read about the advantages
of monetary donations…
Commodity Contributions
While monetary donations are preferred to commodity contributions,
there may be rare instances when a commodity contribution
would be of value to relief operations.
- See a list of conditions
which are necessary to ensure that a commodity contribution
is appropriate…
- Read about handling
appropriate commodity contributions…
- If a commodity collection has already been made, but there
are problems identifying a need in the affected region for
the commodities or an organization to accept them, read
about some alternate
ideas…
A Donations Message from the Humanitarian Community
View or listen to a message
from the humanitarian community about the best way you can
help those affected by an overseas disaster...
Volunteering
Volunteer opportunities in disaster settings are extremely
rare, and are usually limited to people with prior disaster
experience and technical skills (such as health, engineering,
etc). To register your skills and experience for a possible
volunteer opportunity, go to the Center
for International Disaster Information's registration
page. For opportunities to volunteer overseas in non-disaster
settings, visit USA
Freedom Corps. Or read about the President's
new Volunteers for Prosperity initiative, a program managed
and coordinated by USAID. For more information on volunteering,
visit InterAction.
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