More than a month later and many of the 14 million Filipinos impacted by Typhoon Haiyan are still waiting to receive food aid. You might be wondering as I am why so many destitute people are still waiting for life-saving supplies when millions of dollars have been raised on their behalf. The answer is out-dated regulations that keep food aid from reaching countries in a timely nor efficient manner.
Current regulations in the American food aid system requires that food been shipped from approved farms in the U.S. on approved U.S. ships to the countries in need. In other words, food has to be shipped more than 11,000 nautical miles, across the ocean to the Philippines, rather than acquired from food sources much closer to the crisis, such as from countries like Vietnam or Thailand. Not only would providing food from these nearby countries be cheaper for taxpayers, it would be vastly more efficient than shipping food from across the world!
It’s absolutely indefensible that U.S. food regulations are frustrating our humanitarian efforts to help those devastated by one of the most powerful tropical storms the world has ever seen. To help change these out-dated regulations and cut through the red tape, sign a petition started by Juanita Salvador-Burris asking Congress to exempt Typhoon relief from outdated regulations. You can read more about her fight for changes to the food aid system at the Guardian.