Mercy Corps is a reputable aid agency that has swiftly begun providing assistance to Tsunami-damaged areas in Asia, and accepts online donations (I just donated and they acknowledged immediately and it was painless). Here is some info on what they are doing now, from Care2.com:
Mercy Corps’ emergency team is on the ground, assessing damage and beginning a lifesaving response. They’ve started rushing shelter materials and other essential items to children and families who survived the earthquake. In the critical days ahead, Mercy Corps staff will work with local governments and other organizations to ensure that the greatest needs are being met.
Mercy Corps has the experience and expertise to effectively and efficiently respond to this disaster. They have operated in many areas of Southeast Asia for many years. They were the first U.S. agency to respond to the devastating earthquake in Bam, Iran last December. This year, they served over 6 million people in 35 countries.
Today, Mercy Corps need your generous, timely donations to help the thousands of survivors who will need shelter, food and medicine. Please give what you can now.
In a segue: looking at a map of the affected countries in Asia, and the numbers of casualties each country suffered, it was apparent that Myanmar (Burma) has been, somehow, miraculously spared — 90 People Killed in Burma – or at least this is all the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the country’s ruling military junta is admitting to. What a pity that speaking what must be the truth is seen as weakness and will result in the people in that country not getting aid they so clearly could use.