Help Iranian quake survivors

December 30, 2003 2:40 PM

Iran quake death toll hits 50,000. 150,000 survivors are homeless, hungry, and freezing. They really need your immediate help.

$110 can provide a tent for a family of five

$60 can provide drinking water to 30 people

$45 can provide space heaters to three families

$25 can provide blankets to a family of five

Mercy Corps has raised $188,397 so far, but this is far from enough.
posted by hoder (39 comments total)

Pray & hope: more.
posted by thomcatspike at 3:02 PM on December 30, 2003

Metafilter headline: Iran quake death toll hits 50,000
Linked article headline: Iran quake toll could hit 50,000
posted by devbrain at 3:10 PM on December 30, 2003

Yeah, good call devbrain, it's only 25,000+ at this point, I mean; what a bunch of babies.
posted by xmutex at 3:17 PM on December 30, 2003

Thanks for posting this, hoder.
posted by MrBaliHai at 3:18 PM on December 30, 2003

i don't know much about Mercy Corp . . . but from what they say about themselves on their site, it doesn't look like they are affiliated with any religious organizations . . . does anyone know if that is true or not?

i always feel better donating to neutral relief agencies - especially as the political landscape stands in the US right now.
posted by nyoki at 3:31 PM on December 30, 2003

Thanks hoder.

it up to: $191,392
posted by victors at 3:32 PM on December 30, 2003

nyoki, I'm not sure about Mercy Corps, but I can vouch for the competence and neutrality of MSF/Doctors Without Borders, and they are currently mounting a very robust response to the Bam earthquake.
posted by stonerose at 3:45 PM on December 30, 2003

dubyuh and pals have all the money, let them clean it up.
posted by quonsar at 3:45 PM on December 30, 2003

25,000 people dead. I can't even imagine a crowd of 25,000 people... all dead. :-T

thanks for posting.

would be nice if the american public used this opportunity to show arab nations that we aren't muslim hating bigots....
posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 4:23 PM on December 30, 2003

quonsar -- I guess your effing around... right?
posted by victors at 4:25 PM on December 30, 2003

Doctors without Borders is also my relief charity of choice...I too can vouch for their impartiality and competence.
posted by dejah420 at 4:26 PM on December 30, 2003

xmutex, I was going to post what devbrain did. It's not to belittle the dead, but to correct an error which seemed like it might have been intentional (albeit for a good cause.) I gave to Doctors Without Borders too.
posted by callmejay at 4:36 PM on December 30, 2003

quonsar -- I guess your effing around... right?

not really, i'm looking to my leader to set an example. how much is he giving, personally?
posted by quonsar at 5:04 PM on December 30, 2003

what is the figure which jesus, in his infinite mercy, is whispering into georgie boy's ear?
posted by quonsar at 5:09 PM on December 30, 2003

This might be a good thread for posting a link to the aid organization involved with this earthquake that you most trust or support...just an idea.
posted by uosuaq at 5:15 PM on December 30, 2003

what is the figure which jesus, in his infinite mercy, is whispering into georgie boy's ear?

ok well, this thing is over my bitterness threshold -- I guess not yours.

<preach>They just went over $207,947 at the site. Mercy is mercy. Christian, republican, asshole, you, me... these folks need help. I'll ask them if they can eat snarky, but I doubt it.</preach>
posted by victors at 5:57 PM on December 30, 2003

This might be a good thread for posting a link to the aid organization involved with this earthquake that you most trust or support

I guess that's a redundant qualifier for me -- if they are there I'll help them out -- if one is slightly more effective than the other then so be it. I'll spread it around to any link that seems half reasonable. Any one of them can turn out to be fucked up in the end.
posted by victors at 6:02 PM on December 30, 2003

i'm with stonerose on this one, Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders is the choice org to donate to.
posted by titboy at 6:14 PM on December 30, 2003

I'm personally somewhat disappointed that the Dean campaign isn't using some of their proven fundraising capability to help Iran out. It would make for good PR and be very effective. Perhaps it's for legal reasons.
posted by Eloquence at 6:15 PM on December 30, 2003

quonsar, how you can possibly turn such a noble thread into your personal soapbox against Bush is beyond me. I hope threads like these become more common.
posted by BlueTrain at 6:15 PM on December 30, 2003

médecins sans frontières
posted by titboy at 6:18 PM on December 30, 2003

I was watching the TV news earlier, and I have no way to verify this, but the UK has sent over one plane with £50,000 of aid on board.

I was fucking disgusted with myself, considering the billions of pounds the country spent on celebrating Christmas. £50,000 works out at about 0.1 pence for every ten people in the British Isles. That really, really fucking sucks.

I was looking for a way to donate. Thanks. If anyone can find a relevant charity that takes donations via paypal, let us know. Cheers.
posted by tapeguy at 6:33 PM on December 30, 2003

tapeguy (or anybody in a similar situation) if you want paypal to me, I'll charge it. Just email me and we'll proceed from there...
posted by victors at 6:48 PM on December 30, 2003

Thanks for posting this hoder. I didn't give a lot, but I guess that blankets for a family of five is better nothing at all.
posted by mosch at 6:58 PM on December 30, 2003

Don't badger quonsar so much. (Although you can quonsar a badger if you like.) If he's anything like me, he's just suffering a letdown after the Department Store Santa gig ends.

The relief effort is only beginning, and you know how long it sometimes takes for The Powers That Be to decide to take action. But I hear the Administration is working on a tracking poll as to whether giving a rat's ass about earthquake victims in Iran will be appreciated by voters in the swing states and if the results show a 2% upward trend in the next two weeks, we'll be sending them all our surplus beef by MLK Day.
</cynicism>
posted by wendell at 7:26 PM on December 30, 2003

Sadness.

"Many Iranians are remembering the fraud which followed the Roodbar earth quake of the last decade and how most foreign aids were stolen by officials in order to be sold on the black market. Indeed, many of the materials sent especially by the US, such as, medicines and tents were seen later as being sold in Tehran's streets while thousands died due to lack of the same necessary materials in the Roodbar region."

The Iranian Regime's Incomptence (sic)

'Orders have been issued to arrest or shoot on any protester in the devastated areas under the label of "fighting looters".'
posted by kablam at 7:37 PM on December 30, 2003

Quonsar: how much did you give?

The US Military is helping at the instance of the President, despite Iran's government.

More here.

----
Hoder - thanks for posting yet another important thread here.
posted by swerdloff at 7:40 PM on December 30, 2003

would be nice if the american public used this opportunity to show arab nations that we aren't muslim hating bigots....

But we are...
posted by LowDog at 8:28 PM on December 30, 2003

quonsar: how much did you give?

i gave in the 1990 iran quake (40,000 dead, half million homeless). i skipped the 1997 (1560 to 4000 dead, reports vary) iran quake. in the 1978 (15,000 dead) and 1972 (5,374 dead) iran quakes things were rather mild by comparison. but so it goes, back through the decades and centuries. for it's 856 (150,000 estimated dead) and 893 (200,000 estimated dead) and 1780 (100,000 dead) quakes, iran made the list of worst recorded earthquake disasters in history. whole lotta shakin' goin' on. as i stated, i'm waiting for my cue from the boy king. will dubyuh save this noble thread?
posted by quonsar at 8:58 PM on December 30, 2003

I hope threads like these become more common.

Call me a heartless asshole, but personally I hope that trolling for donations on the front page of MeFi does not become commonplace.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 9:44 PM on December 30, 2003

For some info on why U.S.-based people should donate through Mercy Corps, check out some of the postings over at www.eyeranian.net, a blog from a guy in the iranian-american community.
posted by gluechunk at 10:16 PM on December 30, 2003

Thanks for the thread, as ever, hoder.

Iranian Truth is another blog with donation links.
posted by plep at 11:57 PM on December 30, 2003

i guess i'm short sighted but if i'm going to donate money, regardless of the situation, i'd prefer to donate it to the many many people in the US that need it just as much.
posted by suprfli at 2:28 AM on December 31, 2003

We live in relatively affluent countries. It's my own belief that our governments should ensure that none of their countries' inhabitants have the same need as those living in a third-world country hit by an earthquake that has killed at least 30,000 people. If they aren't already doing this, then I believe they are misusing resources.
posted by digiboy at 4:53 AM on December 31, 2003

selfhatefilter
posted by victors at 8:40 AM on December 31, 2003

if i'm going to donate money, regardless of the situation, i'd prefer to donate it to the many many people in the US that need it just as much

Regardless of the situation, huh? In other words, any difficulties that US citizens are in are inherently worse, more deserving of alleviation, than anything that happens to furriners—say, tens of thousands of homeless Iranians in desperate need of food, shelter, and medical attention. There are words for your attitude, but I don't want to contribute to the degeneration of the thread, so I'll just say I'm pleased to disagree.
posted by languagehat at 11:46 AM on December 31, 2003

Mercy Corps is hands down one of the best emergency relief agencies in the world. Doctors without Borders is also good. If you want to objectively compare groups in this category look at CharityNavigator. Mercy Corps gets 4 stars, Doctors without Borders gets 3. There are also many other 4 star groups. Anyway, it's all good pick your team and support them.

I wish I knew someone there as the overhead would %0 and efficiency %100 (or more) sending money directly to someone in need and let them figure out how to spend it.
posted by stbalbach at 11:52 AM on December 31, 2003

Any DBAs out there willing to help Doctors Without Borders?

Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers (0x80040E14)
[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]Could not perform the requested operation because the minimum query memory is not available. Decrease the configured value for the 'min memory per query' server configuration option.
posted by fishbrando at 10:10 PM on December 31, 2003

US citizens are in are inherently worse, more deserving of alleviation, than anything that happens to furriners


foreigners are Un-American
posted by matteo at 12:49 PM on January 1, 2004