As reports grow grimmer every day from China (an estimated 41,000 casualties and some 5 million left homeless from the May 12 earthquake) and Myanmar (an estimated 100,000 dead or missing in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis at the beginning of May), members of the Asian American employee and professional community have joined in humanitarian aid efforts to the two countries. For many, these tragedies hit very close to home.
Alan Wong, chairman of an Asian employee group at Santa Clara-based Intel, stated that the company is setting up a dollar-for-dollar matching contribution plan for its employees. Wong’s group has also partnered with Center for Asian American Media to show several short documentary films as part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and collection tables have been set up at the lunchtime film screenings.
The San Francisco General Hospital Chinese Employee Association has begun collecting donations from its staff members, while Ascend (formerly the National Asian American Society of Accountants) plans to add an earthquake relief element to the program at their upcoming regional conference in San Francisco on June 7 where contributions can be made and participants will be able to get information on volunteer work.
Figuring out how and where to send the contributions is an issue of concern —particularly in the case of Myanmar, which has imposed restrictions on foreign aid.
“[In regard to Myanmar,] I don’t think that people don’t want to contribute; in fact, there is kind of a pent-up demand,” said Anna Mok, an Ascend member and partner at professional service firm Deloitte and Touche. “But how do you get aid there? And how do you know it’s going to the right places?”
Mok did name two organizations that many in the United States have been working with for donations to Myanmar and China: “Give 2 Asia seems to be popping up quite a bit. It is associated with the Asia Foundation. And The Red Cross is clearly one.”
The Web site of the Berkeley Lab Asian Association (lbl.gov/blaa), which is comprised of Asian employees of the Department of Energy national laboratory located in Berkeley, offers links to several organizations where donations can be made directly online.
Despite the differences in how these various groups are contributing, there is no disagreement among them regarding the severity of the situations in China and Myanmar.
“It’s more obvious as the days pass and, unfortunately, as the numbers start growing that there is no question of whether you should support it,” Mok said. “It’s how much you do and how much impact you can make.”