You can help.

The Philippines is in rough shape right now. Tropical Storm Ketsana hit yesterday. In six hours, it dumped 13.4 inches of rain, breaking the rainfall record set 42 years ago.

For a bit of perspective, the previous rainfall record was 13.2 inches of rain in 24 hours. Yesterday's record was 13.4 inches in 6 hours and that is not when it stopped raining. That was just when the worst of the raining stopped. It continued to rain for another 10 hours after those 6 hours were up.

Yes, this country is used to flooding, but it has been 42 YEARS since they have seen this much rain all at once. Even areas with normally adequate drainage were flooding. That said, much of the country does not have normally adequate drainage. There has been massive flooding over the most populated areas of the country.

There are over 50 people dead at this point, and thousands of families displaced because entire neighborhoods are under water. In most cases, these are the neighborhoods of the poorest people in the country. They do not have insurance to cover their losses. Many of them will be unable to work because of the flooding. Many of them will have no jobs to go to now. There is no unemployment system to help these people when they are unable to work. There is very little money for government sponsored relief efforts.

Imagine Hurricane Katrina. Now imagine Hurricane Katrina in a country where people are used to a certain degree of flooding at this time of year, so there was no call for a preemptive evacuation. Imagine people in their homes watching the waters coming in and thinking, "It won't get much higher.... It can't get much higher..." Only to have their homes completely submerged with everything they own inside. And imagine the scope of that over one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world.

After Hurricane Katrina, it wasn't the government who fixed the problem, it was the charities. They were the one who gave effective help to the people in desperate need. Here, it's not going to be the government, either. The waters are receeding, but the after effects will linger as people deal with getting fresh water and hygenic conditions reestablished and get to back to the point where they can support their families again.

You can help. Stay home from the movies this week and donate $20. $20 can feed a family of 4 for a month over here. Don't buy that new shirt you've been eyeing. Donate the $40 instead and provide that family with clothing, too. There are people here who have NOTHING anymore. Completely, absolutely, nothing, including basic shelter. If we don't help them, there is no help. This is not a matter of just pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and moving on. Filipinos are expert at that already. This is not getting people on long-term welfare. This is getting people to the point where they will be able to start helping themselves again.

Here are some places where you can donate:

LDS Philanthropies Emergency Response -- This fund goes to the LDS Church's Emergency Response efforts, which is often one of the first teams on the scene in a natural disaster. After Katrina, there was a quote in one of the newspaper stories from one of the survivors about how there were two churches that were doing the most good -- the LDS church and the Mormon church. I think that says a lot about how much good the LDSER does.

International Committee of the Red Cross -- On this page, you can specify that you want your donation to go to the Philippines relief efforts.

The Salvation Army -- The Salvation Army has a large presence here. Again, you can specify that your donations be used for disaster relief in the Philippines.

In fact, here's a list. You can find one you feel personally attracted to and donate accordingly. I'm sure that all of them will feel the strain financially over the coming months as they help people recover from this.

Spread the word. Feel free to link to this post and get the word out.