DrMiriamA

I started by going to medical school and after that I got a Masters in Public Health with an area of focus in Humanitarain and Field Response. You don't have to be a doctor or in the medical field to do this but you do need advanced training - such as a masters in public health, nutrition, or humanitarain studies. You can find programs like these in the US and Europe (for instance the London School of Hygeine, the Harvard School of Public Health, or Tufts gradutes studies Masters in Humanitarian studies to name a few.)

The Government of the Philippines did a very good job with the response, to be quite honest. They were clearly in charge and knew what they were doing - which was very refreshing as this is not usually the case (even in the USA after Katrina). I have personally never participated in a humanitarian response that has moved from relief to recovery so quickly. The Fillipino people were very resiliant and were clearly already rebuilding and replanting when we left which was only 4 weeks after the intial impact.

It is not very romantic or exciting but really the best way to help out is to donate money. You really want professionals on the ground to be able to response and purchase goods locally. This way you don't undermine the local economy, you are buying culturally appropriate and relevant goods, and the people are really getting what they need - cash. Just think if you lost everything would you want someone to send you shoes or give you money so you could make the decision what is more important to you - shoes or food? shoes or soap or medicne? worse yet - used shoes.

You SHOULD always cross check any charities you give to on Charity Watch - they rate the charity based on how much money actually gets used for services and how much goes to administrative costs. Yes, some has to go for administrative costs but not 50%! So like with anything else be an informed consumer. An example of a good place to donate would be the Phillipine Red Cross - that way your money will go right to the people that need it the most for the things they need the most.

I was also very impresed with the quaility of response, the good coordiantion, and the overall resiliance of the Fillipino people!

Always. We have a saying "you can't take care of other people if you don't take care of yourself". This was our mantra in Haiti where the condititions were very stressful. One of the things we do at the MGH Center for Global Health is conduct a training on International Health, Safety,and Security. This is a very important part of being preapred and staying safe.