Relief efforts are nonetheless underway on the Hawaiian island of Maui following a collection of wildfires severely damaging main areas, together with Lahaina.
All Hands and Hearts, a catastrophe relief group, has been gathering cryptocurrency and fiat donations to help native Maui residents within the wake of the fires, which took the lives of greater than 100 folks and destroyed houses and companies. Government officers have reported that the associated fee to rebuild could also be greater than $5.5 billion.
“Cryptocurrency donations as any other type of donations are helping to provide essential support after the devastating wildfires,” stated Olga Ruggiero, chief of organizational integration and occasions at All Hands and Hearts. “The crypto industry continues to band together with communities around the world in need.”
We are taking part in @TheGivingBlock‘s Maui Emergency Response Fund to assist survivors of the wildfires in Hawaii.
Donate to All Hands and Hearts with crypto and assist strengthen our relief efforts: https://t.co/iG4AnSbNDl https://t.co/aQisZxLspE
— All Hands and Hearts (@AllHandsHearts) August 15, 2023
Ruggiero reported that the group had obtained greater than $125 million in crypto by The Giving Block, a charity platform that facilitates digital asset donations in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and different cryptocurrencies. At the time of publication, the Giving Block had matched greater than $68,000 in crypto and fiat donations to boost greater than $136,000 for the Maui challenge.
“All Hands and Hearts and other disaster relief organizations have evolved their donation strategies over the years by embracing technology and utilizing different types of digital platforms,” stated Ruggiero. “These changes have improved fundraising efficiency and effectiveness, enabling organizations to provide crucial aid during disasters.”
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The fires, which studies counsel might have been attributable to downed energy traces on Aug. 8, have devastated the island of greater than 160,000 residents. In addition to donations by All Hands and Hearts, the governments of Japan and South Korea every pledged $2 million in help to assist relief efforts.
Many organizations have turned to cryptocurrency as an answer to get funds into areas affected by pure and man-made disasters. In Ukraine, the place residents have confronted Russian navy assaults since 2022, the federal government received more than $70 million in crypto for navy tools and humanitarian help as of February.
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