Charity can’t be a special occasion

Last week, Haiti experienced a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, followed by incessantly large aftershocks. The prime minister of Haiti says more than 70,000 deaths have been recorded, with early estimates placing the death toll above 200,000 people.

To put that into perspective, the death toll from Hurricane Katrina was 1,836.

In 2008, China’s Sichuan earthquake, which nearly leveled an entire province, killed about 70,000 people with more than 18,000 missing.

The Nargis Cyclone that destroyed much of Burma in 2008 wrought up to 138,000 deaths.

In each of these disasters, governments of the nations involved aided the areas, and governments from around the world offered relief money. With the earthquake in Haiti, the United States has pledged $100 million in aid along with 10,000 troops for a year. China and Europe have acted in a similar though more modest manner.

This government aid and emergency relief is necessary immediately following such a tragedy in order to be effective: The military brings organizational help for the distribution of food and water to those displaced by natural disaster and soldiers help bring order to the chaos and looting on the streets while emergency workers search for missing people. We often forget, however, about the other crucial and effective source of redevelopment — non-governmental organizations and faith-based organizations.

In addition to government aid, President Barack Obama commissioned former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to raise money for effective and appropriate aid to Haiti. Yet, in an interview on Fox News, both Bush and Clinton encouraged faith-based groups as “a very important part of not only this emergency but the long-term reconstruction of Haiti.”

In summer of 2008, just after China’s earthquake, I had the opportunity to spend almost two weeks aiding the recovery effort in Sichuan’s disaster zone. Every night, I watched the same clips of the Chinese government helping the destroyed areas, but I was most impressed by the substantial number of people that cared, especially the massive volunteer movement of Chinese students and underground Christian churches. These groups greatly impacted relief efforts by raising spirits and reaching reaching out to remote villages.

One 2008 USC alumni, who has chosen to remain anonymous because of the sensitive nature of his involvement, spent many months directing relief efforts in Burma with a Christian organization. The group entered the country providing humanitarian aid prior to Cyclone Nargis.

Although Burma resisted all international aid and is infamous for its list of egregious human rights violations, the Burmese government gave complete freedom to the NGO and even provided financial resources since the group was so effective.

When it comes to natural disasters and catastrophes, governments are great at providing immediate relief, search and rescue and rebuilding infrastructure — all necessary aspects of recovery and moving forward. Groups are best, however, at helping others because of relational capacity and compassion.

In devastated areas like Haiti, we humans rise up compassionately to meet the challenge. Currently, money is flooding into relief organizations, and volunteer lists to travel there are filled with people who are eager to go to Haiti to help.

Even here at USC, the Keck School of Medicine sent a team of doctors to treat victims. Also, CrisisCamp, a student group on campus, is providing data, information, maps and technical assistance to NGOs to assist Haiti.

“People were fighting to survive before the earthquake struck. I can’t even imagine how desperate the situation is now,” said Jon Porter, a junior majoring in business administration, who worked in Haiti caring for local orphans during spring break last year.

We are very good at responding to catastrophe. But the real test of our compassion is in daily life — we need not travel far to find people we can serve.

If our compassion lasted beyond immediate need and devastation, life would very likely look much different, not only for our neighbors but for us as well.

It is equally important to provide relief at home as it is to places devastated by disaster. By living according to the Golden Rule that we learned in the third grade — treat others the way you want to be treated — together, we can improve life here in Los Angeles just as we are in places struck by disaster

Jensen Carlsen is a senior majoring in mathematics and economics.  His column “The Bridge” runs Wednesdays.