A massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Japan on 11 March causing a major tsunami in the Pacific.

The situation

A severe earthquake that struck the north-east coast of Japan has caused a major tsunami. Serious damage was caused in northern Japan, and the tsunami is now moving southwards across the Pacific ocean.

Many countries are on high alert – Oxfam has staff, partners, and ongoing programmes in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Central America. Our sister organisation Oxfam Australia also has programmes in the Pacific Islands.

People living in coastal areas have been told to evacuate and the strength of the waves appears to be decreasing. However, we remain concerned and are on standby to respond should it be necessary.

For one month only, the nice people at PayPal are paying our running costs, so 100% of your money goes directly to fighting poverty.

Why have you done this?
The initiative follows a new Oxfam report showing that people are often deterred from giving because part of their donation usually goes towards the charity’s running costs. The 100% giving report reveals that 72 per cent of Britons believe running costs eat up a significant part of their donation, whilst 65 per cent admit they have been put off supporting charities because of these costs.
There is also a widespread misconception about the amount of money that is allocated to essential running costs, with most people believing it is more than three times the actual figure spent.
The objective is to attract new donors to support Oxfam, so that we can then show them the value of their donation, the importance of the work we do in the long term and the necessity of our vital running costs.

What are running costs?
Running costs essentially means those costs that support rather than actively implement our charity work. Running costs are a vital part of the work we do and without them Oxfam would not exist as none of the funds donated to our charity work would be able to get to those who need it.
Example of running costs:
Oxfam buys thousands of pounds worth of machinery and tools to provide safe water and sanitation where it is most needed in emergency situations. In order to do this and to get it to where it is most needed, we need staff who know what the best equipment to buy is, a finance team to help with the transactions, a team to sort out insurance, transport and logistics, and HR, insurance and health provisions to ensure our staff can get out into the field and work safely and effectively. In short, behind every single one of our responses and activities is an equally vital network of people to make this possible. Without this, the equipment we use to help save thousands of lives would still be sitting in a warehouse and would never get to where it’s needed.
We do all that we can to ensure that our running costs are as low as possible, so we can maximise the amount that is spent on charity work for every donation – in fact, we have managed to bring down our running costs from 21p in every £1 in 2006 to today’s figure of just 19p.

What can I do?

Explore – You can find out more above 100% Giving at www.oxfam.org.uk/giving.

Give – Click here to give now.

PS. Appropriately enough for a post about 100% giving, this is also the 100th post on our blog. Thanks for sticking with us!

This Saturday  is the Oxjam Wiltshire takeover and there’s a whole load of amazing Live Music events going on all over Salisbury!

Events Include:

Nick Heyward in Candlelit Concert at Salisbury Cathedral

NICK HEYWARD’s career in music began at 19 with the band HAIRCUT 100. The band had tremendous success in the UK and in the States with songs such as “Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)”, “Fantastic Day”, “Nobody’s Fool” and “Love Plus One”. After leaving HAIRCUT 100 Nick had great success as a solo artist and is performing at the Cathedral to help a cause very dear to his heart – Oxfam.

Find out more on the Facebook event

Tickets cost from £10 and are available from Salisbury Playhouse or online here!

For all the following events, entry is gained by purchasing a wristband here for the bargain price of £5. These should then be collected on the day from Salisbury Oxfam Gallery between 10:30am-4:30pm and 7pm-8pm. There will be some availability on the day, for £7, from Salisbury Oxfam Gallery between 10:30am and 4:30pm or at some venues after 6pm.

DIRTY ROUGE w/ Slhtt Shwgrls, TheOprtn + Ot Lke A Ln+ RECKON at the Old Ale House
Big charity rock night in the heart of Salisbury promises to offer the best up and coming bands Wiltshire has to offer!

Find out more on the Facebook event

Comedy at the Winchester Gate
Night of UK Underground comedy comes to Salisbury

Find out more on the Facebook event

Acoustic Night @ The Boathouse
Open Mic / contact us – All acoustic All Night – well 8pm – 11.30pm. Curated by Salisbury’s Darrell Ford, who happens to be playing two gigs in one night! This show will feature the best Wiltshire has to offer in the solo stakes!

Find out more on the Facebook event

On Wednesday 8th September Marks & Spencer is calling on its customers to clear out their wardrobes and help raise £1 million for Oxfam

As part of the ongoing M&S and Oxfam Clothes Exchange, for one day only, M&S customers will be able to donate their unwanted clothing to Oxfam in M&S stores, in return for a £5 voucher.

The One Day Wardrobe Clear-out is on Wednesday 8th September. Shoppers will be able to donate to special Donation Stations in Salisbury M&S store where they will also have the chance to meet some of our lovely Salisbury Oxfam volunteers too!

All the clothing will be donated to Oxfam, which could help Oxfam raise over £1 million in sales if M&S hits its target of collecting hundreds and thousands of items.

And if you can’t make the one-day clearout, you can still take your unwanted clothing to your nearest Oxfam shop and receive a £5 voucher thanks to the M&S and Oxfam Clothes Exchange.

(Check out the terms and conditions here if you would like further information.)

Northern Pakistan has been affected by the worst floods in living memory – according to the UN over 3 million people have been affected.

Oxfam is there
In the Punjab, we have been helping evacuate people affected by the floods to camps where we are carrying out hygiene promotion and distributing health and hygiene kits. We are also repairing hand pumps and toilets in the camps.

In Sindh, we have been working with the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum to help evacuate people from Kashmore, Qamber Shahdad Kot and Jamshoro districts. In Daddu district we’ve installed eight ‘de-watering’ machines with our local partner SAFCWO to clean out contaminated wells.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa we are carrying out water tankering and repairing damaged water supplies. We are also providing families with water purification tablets and carrying out assessments on impact of the floods on people’s livelihoods.

Find out more at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/emergencies/pakistan-floods2010.html

With your help we can save lives:
£12 will buy one family hygiene kit
(including soap, washing powder, sanitary cloths and towels, oral rehydration salts and nail cutter/comb)

£14 will buy one family household kit
(including a plastic bucket, water cooler, floor mats, waste bin, shawls and water purification tablets)

£46 will buy tools for clearing up
(including a shovel, pick axe, bucket, broom and wheel barrow)

What can I do?
Give – Donate to the Pakistan Flooding DEC appeal either online at https://www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/pakistan-floods/index.php, by ringing 0300 200 1300, or in any Salisbury Oxfam shop.