Give some cash.

People are wondering what they can do for disaster relief in Asia. There is a tendency among the hands-on, idealist types to think that giving money is not enough. It's just cash after all. And I've actually heard people say giving cash is not "creative enough". Time to put those concerns aside. In this case, cash is the most effective way of getting immediate supplies into the area and stimulating the local economies as the recovery work begins. Let's not be too idealistic to give cash to one of the many experienced and worthy organizations who have been in these areas for years.

And to back me up, my big sister says so too - so there:

GAIL: Definitely it is a huge area to cover and a lot of very different needs. And what we would like people to do is we are really requesting that they support us in terms of funds and monetary assistance because it is the most flexible.

Often we are able to get the resources in country -- buy them right there and get them out to the people that need them very quickly -- and by generating a lot more funds... and there is amazing generosity out there. But we do need more there and the more we are able to get, the faster we are going able to respond to this. I really request that people could support us in terms of money.

(This time on PBS which eliminates some of the yelling.)