Oxfam Raises $3,500 Total For Chile, 1/8th Of 1 Percent Of Haiti Donations

Oxfam Raises $3,500 Total For Chile, 1/8th Of 1 Percent Of Haiti Donations

According to USA Today, Oxfam America has raised a total of $3,499 for relief in Chile since an 8.8 earthquake hit the South American country on Saturday morning. Compare that to the $2.9 million raised in the same time period following January's earthquake in Haiti. That's less than one-eighth of one percent.

While the Haitian earthquake undoubtedly caused more damage and inspired a humanitarian crisis that captivated people around the world, Chile will need far more aid to rebuild and provide resources for many of its poorest citizens. If you leave out the huge disparity in casualties, the two disasters are more similar than they would initially appear. Two million are now homeless in Chile as a result of Saturday's earthquake. Though the numbers are estimates, this figure is greater than the estimated 1.2 million Haitians left homeless after their own quake.

HuffPost Impact has written often about Giving Fatigue in the last few days, the idea that the widespread media coverage of Haiti wore people out from following international incidents. As a result, media coverage of the crisis in Chile represents a very small fraction of the time devoted to Haiti.

No matter how you slice it, both are tragic events and humanitarian crises. If you gave to the situation in Haiti, please consider donating a similar amount to an organization working in Chile.

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