Sept 2, 2005: International Blogging for Disaster Relief Day

Tomorrow, Friday September 2, is . Why? Because it needs to be done.

If you have a blog, here's what you can do. Sometime tomorrow, take a break from whatever it is you usually blog about, and post something constructive related to disaster relief. You can keep it topical to your blog; or, you can just dedicate blog space to listing websites where people can donate money (maybe even challenge people to match your donation). Or, share a story of a hurricane survivor. This goes for photo bloggers, podcasters and video bloggers as well – there's no reason why this should be text-only.

Though this is inspired by Hurricane Katrina, the goal is to deal with disaster relief efforts worldwide, posting about a disaster relevant to your community. Post lists of supplies needed for victims of yesterday's stampede in Baghdad. Post an update on how your family is recovering from the tsunami. Post multi-lingual resources for African families in Paris displaced by the recent apartment fires. Blog about whatever you choose, as long as it supports some kind of disaster assistance in a constructive way.

When you've posted to your blog, be sure to include a link to this Technorati tag: . That way, when people follow that link, they'll be able to find a collection of all relevant postings published throughout the blogosphere. There will also be an RSS feed on that page, which can be used to aggregate all of the postings and display them on a single webpage. I plan to aggregate them on my Katrina Aftermath blog; you can do the same. (Later, I'll post a javascript on my Katrina blog to make it easy for anyone to do this – more soon.) One collection of disaster relief resources, countless bloggers. That's the power of the blogosphere.

So please join me tomorrow and participate in . Take a break from whatever it is you normally blog about – even if it's just for one post – and give back to the Net.

5 comments

  • I’ve just set up three Katrina-related news feeds. Each one is aggregating content from news wire services, newspapers, blogs and other online communities. I’ve broken down the feeds into three major categories: Missing and Found Persons, News and Blogs. Here are the links, along with their RSS feeds, in case you wish to use them in an RSS reader. -andy

    Katrina Missing/Found Persons Digest
    Katrina News Digest
    Katrina Blogosphere Digest

  • Kudos on your efforts to bring relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. There is another way bloggers and other thoughtful people can help:

    I have opened forums at http://www.DisasterReliefIdeas.org for the discussion of ideas to aid disaster relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I am not soliciting donations, only ideas. Experts in aspects of disaster relief (housing, healthcare, rebuilding, etc.) are also able to rate these ideas, giving us a means of identifying the most promising ones, which will be shared with disaster relief professionals and persons in authority. Please help our society by contributing your ideas, especially if you are unable to contribute financially to relief efforts.

  • Pingback: Ben Paarmann

    […] General blogosphere DW-Deutsche Welle sent an Email inviting submissions for the BOBS – The Best of Blogs awards. The Reporters without Borders sponsor the freedom of expression category. Two blogosphere events took place this week, the Blog Day 2005 and the International Blogging for Disaster Relief Day (both via Global Voices). […]

  • I have made a customized EMERGENCY type search engine that links only to crisis situation type websites (like relief aide, evacuation planning layouts, crisis management setup and others relating to disasters caused by terrorism, natural disasters, poverty, disease and man-made war), see http://www.CrisisSearch.com :)

    My first nonprofiting humanitarian project was http://www.SpareSomeChange.com which only covers resources for those living homeless (I had suffered homelessness a few times as a youth). I will try to come up with other helping humanity type portals as I can afford too…

  • Philip J, Clarke
    Beausejour, M.B.
    Canada
    ROE-0C0
    Home Ph#-204-268-4060-aft-4:30 C.ST. Noth America and Weekends
    Work Ph#–204-753-2311 weekdays,

    Dear Editor:
    Extreme Poverty, the World needs to find away to end it, we are now in the 21st century, and no person should have to suffer from Hunger, and Poverty.I belong to a group called Care2, they are based out of Australia, and have a membership in the Millions Worldwide, Care2 is a website that people can click for free to donate to worth while causes, such as the protection of the Rainforest, Big Cats, Oceans, sponsor a child, we sponsor 14 Children a Month.

    We also click on a site for the prevention of Women’s Violence, and Breast Cancer, the sites are sponsored by Companies, so every time someone click on the site a donation is made to the site from the sponsors.

    I run my own group on Care2, called “Click to Donate Daily on Care2, Benefits and Questions”, and have a membership over 830, from around the World, in over 70 countries.

    What I would like to propose would be to make a click to donate site called, Care2 Global Relief Aid Fund, which would also be funded by sponsors.

    Care2 Click to Donate site page

    Care2 Global Aid Relief Fund, Petition.

    This site could be used to fight extreme poverty, stop Global Warming, help prevent the spread of HIV AIDS, Protect Human, and Animal Rights, protect Endangered species, and Natural Disasters, we would work with relief Aid Agencies that are endorsed by the United Nations.

    What I need is signatures, I have made a petition to care2 owners for the site called Care2 Global Relief Aid Fund, and so I need the public help. Also feel free to check Care2 website, and join if interested. Please help us by signing the Petition.

    Your Truly,
    Philip J. Clarke
    Beausejour, MB
    Care2 Member.

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