Following the posting about problems at the Red Cross, here is another take on disaster charities.

The topic of free-market charities is not one I am familiar with, but this article in AlJazeera piqued my interest.  It is not written by an disaster expert, but probably someone who either experienced or watched the damage of H. Sandy first-hand.

See: The problem with free-market-based disaster relief;Two years after Superstorm Sandy, the non-profit industrial complex continues to rear its ugly head. An excerpt:

Aside from longstanding questions over how disaster aid is allocated and spent — public funds themselves being difficult to track — the management of privately managed donations raised a new set of questions. As bureaucratic and inefficient as a public response can be, placing money into private, philanthropist hands assures even less oversight and accountability. Robin Hood preaches something called “venture philanthropy, or charity that embraces free-market forces, to combat poverty.” Is it any wonder that a free-market-based approach to disaster recovery would gravitate towards aid money with scant, if any, oversight?

For the second time this year, ProPublica has gone after the Red  Cross for its disaster relief efforts.  This report focuses on two disaster responses in 2012.  See:The Red Cross’ Secret Disaster. From the lead to the article:

In 2012, two massive storms pounded the United States, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless, hungry or without power for days and weeks.

Americans did what they so often do after disasters. They sent hundreds of millions of dollars to the Red Cross, confident their money would ease the suffering left behind by Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Isaac. They believed the charity was up to the job.

They were wrong.

UPDATE ON Oct.30th: here is the Red Cross’s reply to the article.

New Climate Change report from US EPA.  Access to the full report ( 112 pp.) is on this website.

The latest issue has an indepth account of the virus, featuring details re the genomic research being done on the disease.

(1) Apparently Princeton University has a mini power grid that which worked well after Hurricane Sandy.  An excerpt:

***Princeton’s “microgrid,” an efficient on-campus power generation and delivery network that draws electricity from a gas-turbine generator and solar panel field southeast of campus in West Windsor Township, NJ. Capable of producing 15 megawatts *** of electricity, the University’s microgrid enjoys a give-and-take relationship with the main grid available to the general public and maintained by the utility company PSE&G. When campus power use is high or utility power is inexpensive, the microgrid draws from the PSE&G grid, and when campus demand is low, Princeton’s microgrid can contribute power to the main grid.

(2) From reader James Fossett:

Your readers may be interested in a piece a couple of colleagues and I have just released on the use of solar power as a power source for the microgrids discussed in a recent posting. It will be remembered that the New York City area experienced widespread shortages of fuel after Hurricane Sandy when the power was out for over a week. Solar “supply” seems to be more reliable—power outages are generally caused by transient weather events that are generally followed by clear weather.

With the right kind of batteries and “smart” grid configuration, solar emergency systems could operate almost indefinitely. The military is investing heavily in solar powered microgrids. The paper is on the website of the Rockefeller Institute of Government.

 

Power Industry Seeks More Resilience