Chile Forum

Our own allchile.net Direct Earthquake Relief Flight project is up and running.

Details on this thread here: topic3965.html

The pay pal button at the top of the site is for donations to buy fuel and medical supplies for our allchile.net direct relief flights project.

You can also donate directly to these big organizations:


Cruz Roja (chilean red cross)

362883
Banco Estado
SWIFT CODE: BECHCLRM

To donate from the United States using your cell phone:

In addition, following a request for assistance for Chile, the American Red Cross is now accepting donations specifically for response and recovery in Chile. This includes Chile-designated donations through http://www.redcross.org, through calls to 1-800-REDCROSS, and by texting “Chile” to 90999. People can also call 1-800-257-7575 to make a donation in Spanish.

The International Federation of the Red Cross on Tuesday made preliminary emergency appeal of $6.4 million to all Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in order to assist the Chilean Red Cross. The American Red Cross is accepting donations in response to this appeal.

Untecho para Chile (Chile habitate for humanity)
They are one of the best in Chile, and they have a paypal button on their site for international credit card donations.
there site
http://www.untechoparachile.cl/
and we have a dedicated thread just for them, as I think they are going be key to this reconstruction effort.
topic4001.html


Hogar Cristo
One of the oldest Christian aid organizations in Chile and well respected across Chile.
http://www.hogardecristo.cl/

We are not going to endorse any other means of making donations at this point to help Chile. We want to be very careful about who and where money gets sent to before we post because we want to make sure we keep the scammers in Check, and encourage methods that are as fast and as direct as possible. Cruz Roja is well known, and we have seen them on the streets of Temuco just hours after the earthquake with our own eyes. Techo para Chile has been helping distaster victims for years get housing. Hogar Cristo is active across the country helping people with or without a disaster.

Anyone else claiming outside the country to be receiving funds should be checked very very carefully.

Chile is a rich country, but every little bit helps.

The U.S. Red Cross full press release:

Tuesday, March 02, 2010 — The American Red Cross is responding to the strong 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile, increasing the initial pledge to $250,000 from its International Response Fund for relief operations.
The Chilean Red Cross distributes water to survivors following Saturday's 8.8 magnitude earthquake.
The Chilean Red Cross distributes water to survivors following Saturday's 8.8 magnitude earthquake.
Courtesy of the Chilean Red Cross.
donate page

In addition, following a request for assistance for Chile, the American Red Cross is now accepting donations specifically for response and recovery in Chile. This includes Chile-designated donations through http://www.redcross.org, through calls to 1-800-REDCROSS, and by texting “Chile” to 90999. People can also call 1-800-257-7575 to make a donation in Spanish.

The International Federation of the Red Cross on Tuesday made preliminary emergency appeal of $6.4 million to all Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in order to assist the Chilean Red Cross. The American Red Cross is accepting donations in response to this appeal.

“Our hearts go out to the people of Chile as they cope with the immediate aftermath of this earthquake and the continuing aftershocks,” says David Meltzer, senior vice president of international services with the American Red Cross. “Thanks to the generosity of the American people who previously donated to our International Relief Fund, we’ve been able to release an initial pledge to help the Chilean people in their hour of need and we stand ready to provide additional assistance.”

A regional member of the Red Cross global network is now in Chile assessing the situation and a small team of other Red Cross emergency workers are also on the ground supporting the Chilean Red Cross..

The global Red Cross network plans to assist 15,000 families with shelter, emergency medical care, water and sanitation services. They will also provide the Chilean Red Cross with communications support. The Chilean Red Cross has mobilized 150 volunteers in Santiago while local Red Cross branches work throughout Chile.

Chilean Red Cross disaster teams are working in close coordination with the Chilean government, providing limited search and rescue services, administering first aid and distributing pre-positioned supplies. The Chilean Red Cross is a member of the government’s emergency response group, which is leading the emergency operations and has a great deal of experience and systems in place to manage response to major disasters.

Meanwhile, the American Red Cross and other Red Cross societies are continuing to support the relief operations in Haiti, where 1.9 million people have been helped since the January 12th earthquake in that country.

“As the largest humanitarian network in the world, the Red Cross has both the experience and the capacity to respond to multiple disasters at the same time,” Meltzer said. “We are supporting the Chilean Red Cross in their response to the earthquake while relief operations continue in Haiti.”

You can help the victims of countless crises, like the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti, around the world each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation by either contacting 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish), or mailing your donation with the designation to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013 or to your local American Red Cross chapter. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting http://www.redcross.org.

My bank requires a recipient RUT number to send funds. I just looked at the Chilean Red Cross Web page and found the following (on the emergency response page, not the normal donations page):

Cuentas Corrientes habilitadas:

In Chile:

Banco Estado
Cuenta corriente Nº 362883
Cruz Roja Chilena
Rut: 70.512.100-1
e-mail: finanzas@cruzroja.cl

Overseas:

Citibank
Cuenta corriente Nº 9941973331
Código ABA:021000089
Dirección: 153 east 53 Rd. Street 4th floor. New York, Ny 10022

Yes, I believe some of the first international aid was the UK Red Cross sending the Chilean Red Cross some modest funds. Whether they have enough people to cover everywhere, who knows, but I'm sure they can find a good use for the money.

Cheers,

James.

Thanks for the help. We scribbled that down in a hurry from the TV, and dug out the SWIFT code from our records.

We just got word this morning that Santander in Temuco is working.

As soon as we have a chance to talk to them, we will see what we can do with assisting people to be able to send wires from outside the country directly to people inside southern Chile.

If I catch even one bank executive mumble the words "money laundering law compliance paperwork" under the circumstances, I will make it my personal mission in life to crush that bank's reputation in the media.

What we are getting here on the news is that Chile is asking for aid in the form of things like field hospitals.

There are many "flying doctor" organizations in the USA, and they could be looked up on the internet and donations made directly to them.

Better yet, call your local nurses association and ask them who is going to Chile. That way your money goes to help Chile, not to pay for salaries for highly paid charity administrators

One of our people, Adrien, put together a list of groups that have pledged money specifically to Chile. You can find the contacts here:
http://www.thepulse.cl/2010/03/01/how-t ... -to-chile/

So how do those bank transfers work? If a US based donor wants to transfer money to the Citibank account in NY, is there any kind of confirmation from the Cruz Roja that it was received? Or does that money just disappear into the electronic void?

It seems in the US, bank transfers are less common or abstracted away from the average person by their bank's web based bill pay or direct deposit for their paycheck. Charitable contributions seem to be paid by check or credit card or even text message.

Can anyone give some clarity on this process?

I'm hoping to raise some funds here on my end and donate but want to make sure the money is handed off without incident.

If you're in the UK or have a UK card, you can donate via the British Red Cross here:

https://www.redcross.org.uk/emergencysi ... x?id=88918

Basically, they will forward the funds directly to the Chilean Cruz Roja.

(Btw, the Cruz Roja here, well at least in Vina, don't take cash donations, only non-perishables etc).

We will check in the morning on the exact process they are using, and tracking of funds.

I am hesitant to get involved in processing money transfers ourselves even though we have credit card processors in such in the U.S., but we may setup a system at some point to sheppard funds more directly. That sort of thing is always a catch-22 we would prefer to avoid, unless we have specific target project and funds flowing from people we know personally or say clients that want to donate. It opens up a whole legal can of worms, outside of people we already have extensive personal and buisness relationship with. Not ruling it out, just have not had time to fully work it out.

We do know several none-profit groups here that could act as conduit, that are fully audited and monitored by the government for such things. We are going to be collecting aid information here in the next day or so, and are just getting setup to deal with organizing that.

Looks like the American Red Cross just opened up a specific fund for Chile relief. That may be easier than a bank transfer for those in the US.

Their news release is on redcross.org

Thanks