Thanks for this. May I add three thoughts: 1) beware of disaster tourists. Good intentioned people flock to places devestated by natural disasters and know nothing and have no experience in the complicated world of disaster relief and recovery. 2) look for well respected groups that have long standing relationships in the affected country. That way the all important coordination with government entities have a better chance of working smoothly. And finally 3) look for organizations that value self help and preventive measures.
I was in Orissa and West Bengal after repeated cyclones had hit. The towns where villagers had been warned by trained neighbors ringing bells, educated about high ground, and trained in basic first aid were confident that when the next one hit they ERE prepared. Now that was very cool.
Thank you, NYT, for the donate list. Finally.
I am happy to step and help while my government is out playing golf.
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It is sad to see the confusion in these comments, which is not due to any fault of their authors but rather, I fear, an unavoidable consequence of this type of situation.
First of all, dollars and pesos use the same symbol, $. Thus, for instance, the $24-shampoo mentioned by another commenter as being requested by the Mexican Red Cross costs 24 _pesos_, which is equivalent to between one and two US dollars.
Also, and possibly more importantly, there is some confusion in these comments about where the Topos are receiving donations. The answer is that there are two groups of Topos, both of which are completely legitimate. One of these groups, called Topos Azteca, wears orange overalls and does not ask for or receive donations. It was this group which reported to Aristegui that they were not asking for donations. The other group, called Topos Tlaltelolco, wears red overalls and _does_ ask for donations and uses them for their efforts. Check out their website: http://www.topos.mx/
and you tube video shows a man requesting not to donate to tops Mexico can you confirm that ?
Catholic Charities gives 100% of your donation to the rescue.
I just donated to the Topos through Paypal. Those guys are heroes. They are a proud group of people that will never accept cash donations on the street. I am sure their work is not fairly compensated taking into consideration the risks they take. They are true heroes that go unnoticed until something bad happens. As a Mexican, I am proud of them for the work they do in Mexico, but also in South America, Japan, etc., wherever disaster strikes.
¡FUERZA MEXICO!
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NYT,
Traditionally, TOPOS are volunteers who DO NOT request and/or accept donations. Some TOPOS leaders who are working in Mexico City right now are being interviewed about this, and they are urging the public to donate the money to other organizations. They consider these TOPOS groups opportunistic.
I'm aware of the level of corruption in the government and, unfortunately, in society. It's hard to decide which organization to donate to. But be aware of donating to small groups. I myself am still doing research although my family has already donated food and water bottles.
People in Mexico are overwhelmed with the help received from people in the country and from the international community as well. It's really heartwarming.
¿Traditional Topos don´t accept donations? This is just not true. There are several Topo groups, some of them do not accept donations, others do and the one mentioned on the NYT piece does (they though don´t take government donations).
What Vanessa saw in an interview is a Topo leader of one group not accepting donations. Some volunteer Topos might have resources to do so, that is very good, but Topos are in fact modest people, with scarce resources.
Local news already clarified the above. Number one rule in crisis situations: do not spread unverified information.
As a former journalist (Reforma newspaper), I am also aware that a lot of groups might try to take advantage of the confusion. There are doubts even about well stablished international institutions and not only in Mexico and not only about corruption, but also about mismanage and
So, what should we do? Donate following the most credible institution, to the best of your knowledge (see NYT list). In Mexico, threa are some banks donating $1x$1 peso donated by the public, Banorte, HSBC. Inbursa (Carlos Slim) will donate $5x$1.
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This is the information that needs to be shared widely. Thank you, New York Times!
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unfortunate that Mexican Red cross gets "stuck" in processing my donation. There is no english translation, and I have to select country (esta... uni...) but then only gives Mex state selections and then won't process my CC. On to another method.
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Other people have been posting that those prices are in pesos. At US$30 = 535 pesos
I wonder if the cartels are going to donate? They seem to have plenty of money
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Do you think that it would be wise to accept money from cartels, that at the end of the day come from US drug-addicts? Dirty money comes with plenty of strings attached
ok the Amazon wish list contains things like $24/bottle shampoos and $1000/unit luxury sleeping bags and ultra expensive 4-man tents. Is this a joke?
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Convert to pesos.
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Prices are in Mexican pesos -- it's around 17 pesos to the dollar, so 1,000 is like $65 USD
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I believe it's in Mexican pesos.
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You can also donate here via Aporta (Mexico's digital center for philanthropy):
www.aporta.org.mx/aporta/ayudaaafectadosporterremotoenmexico
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It's always safe to donate to Doctors Without Borders, which isn't mentioned here. It does phenomenal work around the world.
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When a Mexican acquaintance, a hard worker and family man, visited two weeks ago, I showed him a photo taken of the Mexican First Lady, Carmen Lopez Portillo, at the UN General Assembly in 1979. A child was born in that year, and he told me that this was his date of birth. We shook hands and shared a cordial smile.
UNICEF is more active than ever. Wishing to thank Aodhan Beirne and Christina Caron for this helpful list of agencies, outlining their goals and endeavors, and will be contacting the U.S. Fund for UNICEF with a heartfelt wish to offer assistance to the victims and families of this devastating earthquake. When a catastrophe strikes a country and it is difficult to reach the injured, The Red Cross is nearly always to be found on site.
Be as it may, and for those of us who are able to make a donation, let us begin.
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On the Amazon Wish List there seems to be something wrong with the prices. $300 for a package of diapers? It's unclear if they are bulk or single unit prices. Or are the prices in Pesos? Can someone advise? And also, who will be receiving Amazon Wish List items and distributing them?
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I had the same question!
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Anita! Hey, that's probably because it took you to the Amazon.mx (Mexico) site. $300 is in pesos (roughly $17 in U.S. Dollars).
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It's probably Mexican pesos. The registry is set up with amazon mx.
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Where is the US Government in helping our friends and neighbors in Mexico deal with this disaster? I remember the quick response from Mexico after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf coast. They had navy vessels in port in NOLA almost within hours of the hurricane's passing and the Mexican Army brought in a caravan of trucks carrying food and supplies that arrived well ahead of the US military response. Perhaps our aid can't get past Trump's wall? Shame on us.
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Well said Phillip!
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https://www.cidi.org/mexico-earthquake/#.WcRAYrKGOJA
This is usually the first step, more resources will probably follow shortly based on the assessments. I loathe Trump as much as the next sane person, but the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and the SAR teams they work with are top-notch.
We have our own issues here......
Another great resource is the American Jewish World Service. https://ajws.org/donate/mexico-earthquake-listings/ Direct support for grassroots efforts on the ground in Mexico.
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Hey New York Times - your online link to Red Cross Mexico leads to a fraudulent web page. OR they have been hacked. I've indicated a $30 donation and they just debited my credit card for $500. I hope this is pesos. You might want to double check your link.
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$30 USD=535.87 Mexican Peso
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The pescos is at 17.70..
500 pesos is $27.98 US
I would imagine it is, remember your currency has to be converted to the local nations currency to be valid. At this moment the exchange rate (it fluctuates constantly) is $30 Can = abt 450 Mex, $30 US is abt 550 Mex. So, 500 seems accurate. Check your bank, though just in case.
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Here you can find information of places where rescue efforts are taking place, where to donate with a bit of information in English https://sites.google.com/site/sismocdmx/foreign-help-offered-by-twitter
Anyone but Red Cross. Let's see their upper management payroll list in the US and Mexico first.
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2008 - an IM instant message came in from the UNICEF Representative for the Philippines. A friend, she informed me that one of her local staff members had gone North on leave, and was shot in a cross-fire. He was dying from loss of blood, and I asked if anyone was on site to address this emergency crisis. A representative from The International Red Cross.
He was given 8 pints of blood, went on to live to tell the tale and apparently asked his supervisor for a raise later in the year, which was denied. My friend and her UNICEF colleagues were able to save his life with the help of The Red Cross.
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Topos says they are not asking for money -- that some of the accounts set up are likely fake: http://aristeguinoticias.com/2009/mexico/topos-no-estan-pidiendo-dinero-...
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There is confusion because there are multiple Topos groups. Topos Azteca doesn't ask for money, as they told Aristegui. On the other hand, Topos Tlaltenolco is definitely a legitimate Topos organization and _is_ asking for money. Topos Azteca wears orange overalls and Topos Tlaltenolco wears red overalls.
Thank you for the information. Please note that established organisations like the Red Cross, UNICEF, can distribute funds where required and provide helpers like Topos with the tools etc they need to search for survivors. Although great, Topos are a small group and can only work in one location at a time and once the search and rescue is over they are not set up to help the survivors. Sadly, the earthquake in Mexico affected several locations and bigger organisations have the necessary structure to reach those in need. When deciding who one would like to manage funds send for the victims some people like to give to religious organisations while others to secular groups. I also noticed that Topos are heavily sponsored by Scientology and wear a Scientology logos on their uniforms (I watched an interview with Hector Mendez, the leader) and bring Scientology personnel in on their operations. Some folks might not be comfortable with that while some might not mind. So long as we all have the information we need to vet the charity we are sending our money to.
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From the best I can determine, this is because Topos Azteca and Topos Tlaltelolco are separate groups. Topos Azteca seems to be the Scientologist-aligned one and is _not_ asking for money, while Topos Tlaltelolco split from them a while back and _is_ asking for money.
Try comoayudar.mx has an English option.
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GlobalGiving has good ratings and was very easy to use for the first time. Thank you nytimes.
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Thank you for you concern for all of us in Mexico! Topos is a search team which has been successful at rescuing many people from various earthquakes, not only in Mexico, but also in other countries. These men are relentless in the search and aid of victims! As a Mexican I donated to them through PayPal, instructions are in English and easy to follow! All the help they can receive will be well used! Thank you again for your compassion and humanity in times of need!
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If you're having trouble accessing/reading the Topos MX site, go directly to their Twitter page: https://twitter.com/topos?lang=en On top you'll see a pin with their PayPal information. Here it is for your convenience, but feel free to double check: Paypal: [email protected] topos.mx Here, too, is a direct link to the pinned tweet: https://twitter.com/topos/status/908000616575680512
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thanks. still having trouble. Am I missing something obvious?
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I am trying to donate to Mexican earthquake relief but the indicated link for the Mexican Red Cross in this article is not in English. The writers of this article wrote it in English and gave a link which use to help.
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If your looking to donate to help the Mexico earthquake relief, amazon has a donation program already set up if your willing to donate here is a direct link to it. http://amzn.to/2xRZ0Y1
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We would really appreciate your help, if you need to translate some of the websites, I'd be happy to help. Thank you.
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Hi I am very concerned because I have been finding several articles like this one that point readers to donating at websites for reputable organizations that are not completely translated in English (Red Cross Mexico). For other organizations like the Brigada Topos when you try to make the contribution via PayPal there are major challenges because when entering personal information it doesn't allow you to select the correct state since it assumes you are a resident in Mexico. I am really worried about this because I know many people who don't speak Spanish care about Mexico but won't be able to make a donation as long as there are these challenges. Can you please write an article about this to make these organizations aware of how urgent it is for them to create translated web pages or for PayPal to make it so that people can donate. Thank you!!!
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Hi Audrey - I did a short blog post explaining how to donate to Brigada Topos if you live in the US and have a US PayPal account. Hopefully this will clear things up: https://medium.com/@amarcosb/how-to-donate-to-los-topos-the-earthquake-r...
Please feel free to share, and thank you for your generosity!
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Thanks so much. My earlier efforts failed. Have shared as well.
Hi Andres! I tried following your instructions, but when I get to the last stage in the PayPal process (after it has converted the donation $s to pesos) it generates an error and says: "Sorry, this recipient can’t accept personal payments." Any ideas why/how to solve?
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Thank you for showing compassion for our neighbors to the south
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