Philippine Disaster Relief

Part 1: The money raised for the foreign aid of the Philippines, should be used to provide the people with basic needs everybody needs to survive. Those basic needs are things such as clean drinking water, healthy and wholesome food, temporary shelter, and medical care. With almost 4 million residents displaced from there homes, help is needed immediately. The longer the people go without help, the higher the possibility of acquiring a disease. As the disease rate goes up, casualties jump tremendously.

Part 2: Charities are the most effective way to provide relief in situations such as this. When a natural disaster hits, many people want to help, but few know how. Charities provide venus for people to donate their time, money, or goods. After all the goods are gathered and collected by volunteers, they are shipped off to areas in the most need. By a charity donating through the collection of small contributions, they are able to buy thousands of bottles of water, for example, rather than a few at a time. The one major downside to charities is, despite all the good they do, most of the money goes back into the charity to pay full time employees and to pay for facilities. The remaining money, goes to the charity. Despite this downfall, donating to a charity for disaster relief is one of the most effective ways to help those in need.

Part 3: UNICEF is "There For The Philippines." Being one of the biggest relief charities for the Philippines, UNICEF vows to stay after everyone else has gone. Being such a big charity, they can give unparalleled  amounts of supplies to the victims in the Philippines. UNICEF is a main supporter of children, providing clean drinking water; specialized medicine, and basic medical kits, and protection for kids againest traffickers. Celebrity backers like singer Rihanna and MLB athlete Robinson Cano, not only donate a lot of money themselves, but also bring additional donations, after their fans find out they donated to UNICEF. Although the biggest, UNICEF only donates $.14 of every dollar.  Still, with so much money coming in per month, this is still a considerable amount of money being donated.

Part 4: My invention would be a disaster relief 72 hour pack. Even with todays modern technology, many survivors of disasters still have to wait days for help to arrive, and by that time, it could be to late. My pack would be handed out to countries most prone to natural disasters. the pack would be rather small so users could carry it with them when ever they need it. Inside, a "LifeStraw" water filter would provide cleaning drinking water from and water source. A small emergency medical kit would contain bandages, medication, and a few other much needed medical supplies. In addition, food rations would be included in small bags. This food would be similar to food used in the military, and would never expire or go bad. Finally, a small light weight tarp and rope would be included. This could be used to make a shelter, gather goods, carry around personal belongings, or anything else the user could think of. Although not a permeant solution, my 72 hour pack would help survivors to survive the few days they need to before help arrives.