Aussies Show No Sign of Donation Fatigue
Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
2 Mar 2010
Australians are yet again digging deep in their pockets to help victims of Chile's devastating 8.8 earthquake despite already having given generously in the wake of Haiti's 7.00 quake in January this year.
"Aussies are renowned for their generosity and although we hear of donor fatigue being talked about in the media, we have seen no sign of it," says Tim O'Connor, Director of Communications for Caritas Australia.
In 2009, Australians donated more than $2 million to Caritas Australia's Communities in Crisis Appeal following a string of natural disasters which included earthquakes, floods and typhoons in the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Nepal as well as September's terrifying tsunami swept across the Pacific ravaging Samoa, Tonga and other Pacific Island nations.
"A further $3 million has been dedicated to us by Australians to help those in Haiti after the January 13 quake destroyed Port au Prince, killing more than 200,000 and leaving more than 1 million homeless," Tim says.
In addition, Australians have given a further $1 million to Caritas Australia's Project Compassion, the Catholic Aid Agency's annual appeal which was launched on Ash Wednesday and will run until Easter Sunday on 4 April.
This extraordinary generosity does not include the millions of dollars Australians have also donated to other charities and NGOs or their overwhelming response to help victims of last year's horrific bushfires in Victoria.
But while ordinary Australians are showing no signs of "donor fatigue" for aid organisations such as Caritas, the string of natural disasters that have destroyed cities and villages from Indonesia to Samoa, the Philippines, Haiti and now Chile, have stretched resources to the limit.
"The Caritas emergency response teams are incredibly stretched at the moment and have been working virtually non-stop since September last year," says Tim O'Connor.
But Caritas, which operates in 200 countries, has never ceased to be active on the ground and according to Tim O'Connor while the emergency teams bring enormous technical knowledge with them, it is those who are active on the ground throughout the year, who have a huge impact and over time, make a real difference.
"The power of the Church means that many of those with Caritas are locals. Our network is everywhere and by working closely with our local partners, we are able to deliver a sustainable and sustained response before, during and long after the newspaper and TV headlines have ceased," he says.
Chile remains in a state of chaos as rescuers frantically search for survivors in Concepcion, the country's second largest city, as well as in the small towns and villages that have virtually been obliterated by the quake and a quake-triggered tsunami.
President Michelle Bachelet has called the quake "an emergency without parallel in Chile's history." Three days after the quake the death toll stands at 723 but is expected to rise much higher. There has been no contact with some villages in outlying areas and it is not known how many survived the quake or the tsunami that followed.
It is thought that 2 million, or an eight of Chile's population, have been affected by the quake.
In Concepcion many have no shelter and have become desperate, breaking into collapsed supermarkets and grocery stores in search of food. But others have used the tragedy to steal electrical goods and flat screen TVs and in a bid to keep some semblance of order, a curfew is in now place with army and police patrolling the streets to prevent further looting.
In Sydney, the Chilean community anxiously awaits news of loved ones and are already planning to raise funds to help victims with a special Latin American festival later this month.
There are 400 Australians believed to be in Chile at the moment. Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith says contact has been made with 100 of these but with telephone lines down and infrastructure destroyed reaching the others is proving difficult. However he told Sky News last night that so far "there had been no evidence Australians had been caught up in the quake."
By donating to Caritas's Project Compassion, the aid agency's annual Lenten appeal, you can not only help victims of Chile's devastating earthquake and the poor and dispossessed of Haiti and those of other impoverished nations devastated by floods, typhoons, tsunamis and other natural disasters.
To find out more, log on www.caritas.org.au
