How many people in the world are actually qualified to offer any useful help on the Japan nuclear situation? Does anyone really think that they're just sitting around doing nothing right now?
I don't care how organized and prepared the Japanese are - they need help right now. Even before the disaster, they relied on imports for food and fuel. Large portions of their economy are now offline, and hundreds of thousands of people are displaced. Even if Japan has the will and resources to deal with all of this on their own, if the rest of us are willing and eager to chip in to help, why should they?
It's not like your donation is going to a Real American Hero who will personally swoop down into Tokyo and start wrapping every Japanese person they come across in a blanket and dousing them with a bottle of water. That money is going to be spent how it was spent here in the US after Katrina: yes, it will help feed people who need feeding in the short term, but it will also keep people in temporary homes until they can rebuild or relocate, pay for school clothes and supplies for kids whose families lost everything, provide grant money to help kickstart businesses in the affected areas once cleanup is done, etc, etc, etc.
I don't care how organized and prepared the Japanese are - they need help right now. Even before the disaster, they relied on imports for food and fuel. Large portions of their economy are now offline, and hundreds of thousands of people are displaced. Even if Japan has the will and resources to deal with all of this on their own, if the rest of us are willing and eager to chip in to help, why should they?
It's not like your donation is going to a Real American Hero who will personally swoop down into Tokyo and start wrapping every Japanese person they come across in a blanket and dousing them with a bottle of water. That money is going to be spent how it was spent here in the US after Katrina: yes, it will help feed people who need feeding in the short term, but it will also keep people in temporary homes until they can rebuild or relocate, pay for school clothes and supplies for kids whose families lost everything, provide grant money to help kickstart businesses in the affected areas once cleanup is done, etc, etc, etc.
So, no, sorry. I'm still sending money.