Help Those in Japan

Written by Ken Vaughn For Congress Blog on March 16, 2011, 02:29 PM

I encourage everyone to be in prayer for those in Japan. An 8.9 earthquake is truly devastating. I have personally experienced a 6.0 earthquake, which is enough to cause moderate damage to buildings and seriously rattle the nerves of those involved. An 8.9 quake is nearly 1,000 times stronger than a 6.0 and 100 times stronger than any major earthquake to have hit the U.S. in the last 40 years (e.g., San Fernando in 1971, San Francisco in 1989, and Los Angeles in 1994). We will see more damage reports about this event for days to come, and there are certainly people in need right now.

I encourage you to give to a charity of your choice to help those who have been affected by this event. Before giving to a charity, you should always investigate it and feel comfortable with its management and operations as a whole. For this reason, I generally recommend contributing to local charities in which you are personally involved. However, when it comes to international efforts, especially those related to immediate disaster response, it is generally better to give to the larger charities with strong connections in the affected country. One such charity that I have great respect for and which operates in Japan is World Vision. If you have other charities that you would like to see listed, please contact us and we will consider adding them to this list.