From a Singapore Angle

From ENN.com, "A Tidal Wave of Lessons Learned", an ENN Commentary by Duane Silverstein (Jan 13):

There is a second lesson to be learned from this terrible tragedy: listen to the wisdom of the local people in deciding what type of aid they need. My organization, Seacology, focuses on preserving the environments and cultures of islands throughout the globe. We have many projects in the Indian Ocean and fortunately only four of these were damaged by the tsunami. While we will stand by our projects and will pay to repair or replace them all, we realize there is significant human suffering that has to be addressed as well. This realization came all too easily, as I have visited our project sites and have met many individuals who perished during the tsunami. We knew we wanted to establish a tsunami relief program but we wanted to do it in a way that was cost effective, targeted, had no red tape, no overhead and where we knew where every single cent we raised was going. And so we targeted four villages which have hosted Seacology projects--one in Sri Lanka, one in The Maldives, one in Thailand and one in the Andaman Islands.

We then asked our contacts who are highly respected leaders in each of these villages to identify what the local people feel are the priority needs for tsunami relief. We figure they would have a better idea than we would, sitting in an office in the U.S. The needs are as different as they are interesting. In the village in Sri Lanka, all the fishing equipment was destroyed and the fishermen can no longer earn a living. They requested new fishing nets and equipment, which is exactly what we will provide (cost per family: $95). In the Andaman Islands each family wants 20 chickens and a goat so they will have a long-term source of food and income (cost per family: $30). If someone had asked me on December 27 what the most critical needs of the impacted villages would be, I am sure that the provision of chickens and goats would not have been on the top of the list.

UPDATE: See also this from Seacology's own website. Highlight:

Unlike other relief funds, Seacology chose to target four villages where its locally based volunteers live and work to ensure all money raised will go directly to assist victims of the tsunami. The Seacology tsunami relief fund will be aimed at rebuilding the local economies and infrastructures of these four villages. "The only thing I ask for is a fishing net," said A.G. Nuwan of Sri Lanka. "We are poor people living for the day. We have no savings and need to get back to making money."

"This is precisely the type of relief we will provide," said Silverstein."This is precisely the type of relief we will provide," said Silverstein. The tsunami relief fund will be aimed at rebuilding the local economies and infrastructures of these four villages. "We have carefully designed our relief efforts so that we know the money will be spent efficiently and effectively on items the villagers themselves indicate are most needed. There will be no organization or government middlemen. The funds will go directly to the villages to provide fishing equipment, water supply systems and other critical needs to help get these villages back on their feet," added Silverstein.

They are also requesting for donation:

Unlike some large-scale relief efforts undertaken by other, more sizable organizations, 100 percent of donations to Seacology designated for tsunami relief will go toward assisting these four villages.

Go to their website for information if you want to to do so.

UPDATE: These guys are based in Berkeley, California: