I am writing to second all the requests you've probably hearing for money
contributions for Turkey's recovery efforts.  Turkey has a population of
some 65 million, up from only some 14 million at its birth in 1923.  The per
capita income is just over $3,000 a year, close to Mexico's.  The areas hit
so hard by the recent earthquake have experienced growth rates in the last
few decades that probably have few precedents in human history.  Istanbul,
for example, has grown from some 1 to 1.5 million people 30 years ago to
what some estimate to be a population of between 12 to 15 million today!
Most of these folks are from or are descendants of poor families who moved
from the countryside to the industrial cities looking for a better life.
The demand they created for housing, obviously, contributed to some of the
corner cutting that has exacerbated so badly the recent disaster.

I am sure you have access to trustworthy organizations through which to
distribute your contributions, but in case you don't why not try the
American Red Cross,  P.O. Box 37243, Washington DC 20013; 1 (800) helpnow;
www.redcross.org.

Thanks,

Mark-O


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