Good magazine reports that the $105 million in disaster-relief donations Americans have given to Japan since the country's earthquake and tsunami represents just a fraction of what we gave in response to other recent natural disasters (donors handed over $457 million in the week after Katrina and more than $275 million in the first seven days after the quake in Haiti). On the other hand, corporations haven't wasted any time writing checks:
One sector of America though has been especially generous, and that's corporate America. APM's Marketplace reported on the swift speed of American companies to give to this crisis. Stacy Plamer, editor of The Chronicle of Philanthropy, confirms the appearance of speedy action from the business sector in an email to GOOD: "Anecdotally we’ve seen a much faster response from corporate donors to Japan, probably since many companies have offices in Japan, and are thus more personally affected by the disaster."
After each disaster the Chronicle surveys just about every disaster relief group for updates on an ongoing basis. They found that many of the groups are themselves not sure how to respond yet, or if they will because the Japanese government has a well developed infrastructure in place for disaster relief.
While some of the reasoning might overlap, it still doesn't fully explain what's going on with individual donations. Is it just that we have more faith in Japan to recover on its own than we did in Haiti? That we feel more distant from the victims of the Japanese disasters than we did from our fellow Americans in New Orleans? Could it be simple disaster fatigue?
If you want to help close the donation gap, check out Good's constantly updated list of ways to help and support the rescue and relief efforts in Japan, and their slide show of things you can buy while also making a donation.
Read more at Good magazine.
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