Dear New Zealanders,

The response of everyday people to the disaster in the Philippines has been fantastic. So far more than 100,000 individuals have responded to the “Campbell Live” call to action and finance the humanitarian efforts that UNICEF is operating for the victims.

This response in my view demonstrates a couple of things – that we feel for families whose lives are torn asunder by such events and are left to their own devices to pick up the pieces; but also in the wake of Christchurch we appreciate the time it takes to re-establish lives even in a first world country, so in these poor areas of the Philippines the delays can be even more magnified.

While we cannot attribute this, or any particular storm to climate change what we can say is that as global warming progresses, the intensity of Nature’s ferocity will grow and nobody will be immune from those effects. But the vulnerability of the millions who reside in the Tropics often amongst flimsy infrastructure will be beyond what we’ve witnessed to date.

This tells me that global awareness and action on limiting carbon accumulation in the atmosphere must remain front of mind for us all. Whether we get there through technological progress, alternative energies, through private or public sector adjustment who knows – probably all of the above, but we need to rise to this challenge. Certainly UNICEF is predicting and gearing up to respond to an increase in climate change-driven disasters over the next decade and beyond

Such a large and unprecedented response from New Zealand to the catastrophe in Tacloban and beyond suggests to me that this particular disaster has struck a chord of unease amongst us all. By raising the contribution as much as we can we not only help more victims, we send a message to our own government, not to stay asleep at the wheel on climate change. We are concerned.

You can make a contribution here www.unicef.org.nz/Philippines

If you wish to be a named supporter of the rescue & rehabilitation effort please contact Ellen Voller at:

Ellen@unicef.org.nz

DDI 04 815 9381

Cell 021 509 024

Please share this post with your friends – Go New Zealand!

Cheers

Gareth

About the Author

Gareth Morgan

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Gareth Morgan is a New Zealand economist and commentator on public policy who in previous lives has been in business as an economic consultant, funds manager, and professional company director. He is also a motorcycle adventurer and philanthropist. Gareth and his wife Joanne have a charitable foundation, the Morgan Foundation, which has three main stands of philanthropic endeavour – public interest research, conservation and social investment.