Past experience shows that while responding to initial needs is often chaotic, study after study demonstrates that failing to support a strong national presence on the ground undermines the government's ability to lead the reconstruction effort, long after emergency responders have departed. This begins with the relief phase being anchored by strong national coordination of both domestic and international efforts. In short, the entire international community -- public, private and civil society -- must support the government's efforts to coordinate all phases of the response.
And what about concerned citizens? In an excellent piece in Slate, humanitarian worker Jessica Alexander urges the civically minded to "donate money -- not teddy bears, not old shoes, not breast milk." Her basic premise is that we need to curb our instinct to donate things, and instead donate money to those organizations that can best determine what things are necessary on the ground. Not only does money travel faster and cost less to move, there is less chance that it will end up unused.
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