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Our prayers go out to Japan today...

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kusunoki:
I doubt anyone would be too proud to take it, but I might be nice to know exactly how it is being used. I'm acting as the official representative of Americares here in Sendai for the duration, so I can guarantee that money donated to them will go to the places where it's needed. I'm actually in charge of locating those places...

narfstar:
Besides the dollar per transaction at Paypal I noticed some other major credit cards had donation buttons. I would be confident paypal is not a scam but any others I would only use the official sites of the credit cards that someone has. For instance if you have Chase Mastercard online account, etc. go directly there and donate. There will be lots of scam sites popping up with lots of phishing emails. What agencies do you recommend K?
And can you keep us posted on the nuke situation?

kusunoki:
The organizations I have seen operating around here (other than Americares) are Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) and the Japanese Red Cross. It's been pointed out to me that the Japanese Red Cross and the American one are separate entities and that donations to the American one would not necessarily go to there efforts in Japan.

As for the nukes, this is just all kinds of disturbing. The American and Japanese analysts are disagreeing on the extent of the damage, with the Japanese government imposing a 30km radius danger zone (putting it some distance away from Sendai) and the US folks calling for a 100km radius danger zone (putting it uncomfortably close). All of the information I am getting on it can be accessed by anyone. I've been using the NHK online live English feed, the BBC news site and the New York Times online.

Yoc:
The lack of sharing specific details from the Japanese worries me.
Frankly if I were in your shoes K, I'd be making plans to move as far from the plant as possible!
But then I hear it terrible to get anywhere near an airport since the earthquake.

Be safe,
-Yoc

John C:
I was even OK with the lack of details, Yoc, since no government wants to hurt more people by causing a panic.  But then I did some quick reading, and found out that not only did the GE designers quit over being forced to accept "serious design flaws," but Japan's power companies apparently have a significant decades-long reputation for ignoring safety protocols and covering up data.

Upshot, yes, be safe, and trust your own judgment over anything official.  Sick aid workers aren't helpful, no matter how heroic it might sound.

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