5 ways to help those affected by the #EcuadorEarthquake with your profession
Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2024 10:20 am
The earthquake shook us and we reacted in a similar way.
It all started with severe pain and helplessness and the more we learned about the true magnitude of everything, the stronger the impulse became: something must be done. NOW! The first thing is to think about running to the affected areas, thinking that it is possible to help carry things, lift debris and help whoever we can, but the sad reality is that, unless we have strong training in:
Search and rescue
Psychology
Medicine
First aid
Civil organization
We are likely to become a burden and a hindrance to true professionals; our mission is not to solve problems in the affected areas, but that only means that our help is valuable in other areas.
We need everyone and we all need to contribute at this time.
How to help at the beginning?
The obvious is the most important.
The serious victims of the earthquake lost everything, their homes, their job function or professional person and industry email list jobs, their loved ones, and they will need our support for a long time.
It is a good time to organize our budgets month by month, to consistently allocate a portion to sending aid:
Food
Dress
Medicine
Volunteering
These donations need sorting and shipping… and in the future, hands will be needed to support construction and recovery… it would also be good to set aside a little time to contribute to these activities, but that is not all we can do.
If we are proactive and committed enough, we will find the most important spaces for collaboration.
This can happen indirectly or through different mechanisms, like these people (models of inspiration) who teach us that it is possible to change the course of history.
#MappingEcuador:
Daniel Orellana is part of the Open Street Map organization and collaborated with the earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal.
Now, when his country needs him, he leads the humanitarian team called HOT: Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team that through a coordinated and specific work maps the current state of the affected areas in order to provide updated data and a good guide to rescuers to prioritize the areas in which they are going to act.
In this way, the HOT team saves many lives.
(By the way, we can all help in this and Daniel tells us all about it in his series of hangouts on Youtube)
It all started with severe pain and helplessness and the more we learned about the true magnitude of everything, the stronger the impulse became: something must be done. NOW! The first thing is to think about running to the affected areas, thinking that it is possible to help carry things, lift debris and help whoever we can, but the sad reality is that, unless we have strong training in:
Search and rescue
Psychology
Medicine
First aid
Civil organization
We are likely to become a burden and a hindrance to true professionals; our mission is not to solve problems in the affected areas, but that only means that our help is valuable in other areas.
We need everyone and we all need to contribute at this time.
How to help at the beginning?
The obvious is the most important.
The serious victims of the earthquake lost everything, their homes, their job function or professional person and industry email list jobs, their loved ones, and they will need our support for a long time.
It is a good time to organize our budgets month by month, to consistently allocate a portion to sending aid:
Food
Dress
Medicine
Volunteering
These donations need sorting and shipping… and in the future, hands will be needed to support construction and recovery… it would also be good to set aside a little time to contribute to these activities, but that is not all we can do.
If we are proactive and committed enough, we will find the most important spaces for collaboration.
This can happen indirectly or through different mechanisms, like these people (models of inspiration) who teach us that it is possible to change the course of history.
#MappingEcuador:
Daniel Orellana is part of the Open Street Map organization and collaborated with the earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal.
Now, when his country needs him, he leads the humanitarian team called HOT: Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team that through a coordinated and specific work maps the current state of the affected areas in order to provide updated data and a good guide to rescuers to prioritize the areas in which they are going to act.
In this way, the HOT team saves many lives.
(By the way, we can all help in this and Daniel tells us all about it in his series of hangouts on Youtube)