QUESTIONS
Does it make sense to give donations to Japan:
For donations that benefit the victims of the earth quake and tsunami
in Japan, the DZI (German Centre for Social Issues) has the following
recommendations:
- Despite being highly advanced and having a great pool of experts and
helpers, the scale of the disaster and the danger of radioactive
contamination are enormously challenging for Japanese society.
- Japan has a highly sophisticated system of governmental disaster relief
and has good infrastructures for concerted efforts of civil society, as
was seen in the aftermath of the earthquake in Kobe 1995.
- Effective help depends on the acceptance among the effected population
and those stakeholders that are responsible in government. It also demands
a highly skilled competence, good contacts and sufficient knowledge of the
Japanese language.
- Nobody can assess at the moment which scale of foreign assistance and
personnel is needed, so that efforts can become highly effective.
Because of the radioactive contamination in large parts of the disaster
region, a departure of helpers is limited.
- Under these circumstances many of the experienced relief organisations
in Germany have not yet decided to send their helpers and relief supplies
to Japan. This is probably changing in the next days and weeks, but it
all depends on the Japanese government or civil society organisations,
who will have to demand such assistance.
- Donations should only made to those organisations who have already good
contacts to partner organisations in Japan and can be trusted to forward
these funds. This way an effective relief effort can be guaranteed.
- The DZI warns possible donors to show restrain when collaborating with
such organisations that are not providing sufficient information of their
relief competence in Japan.