• January 3, 2005

Online contributions are making a significant impact on relief efforts for survivors of the tragic earthquake and tsunami that rocked Southwest Asia on Dec. 26. Amazon.com has raised nearly $13 million in donations to the American Red Cross from almost 160,000 individual contributors. Yahoo! donated a Web site, http://store.yahoo.com/redcross-donate, on behalf of the ARC, which allows individuals to donate money to the ARC in increments from $10 to $5,000. According to the site, approximately $3.8 million from more than 37,000 people has been raised so far.

The operators at ReliefSearch.org have said they will donate 100 percent of the proceeds from its pay-per-click Web search service to the ARC and Direct Relief International. They encourage Web surfers to use the site's search engine for the next 30 days or so, rather than Google or Yahoo!. ReliefSearch.org is reportedly hoping for one million hits within the next month to raise between $100,000 and $200,000.

President Bush called on Americans to go online to in a press conference Monday morning. The President told Americans to visit the USA Freedom Corps Web site, http://www.usafreedomcorps.gov, for a list of reliable relief organizations to make donations.

--Gavin O'Malley