Despite the astonishing progress human beings have made in every aspect of civilization, we are still helpless in the face of nature’s wrath. When a natural disaster unleashes itself on us, as it does every so often without warning or without time to prepare ourselves against it, we can only hope and pray that we and our loved loves won’t be the ones to succumb to it.

Rebuilding communities and societies in the aftermath of a natural disaster, like an earthquake, a volcanic eruption, a tsunami, a major flood, or even a major cyclone, is a massive task. Governments provide relief against strained budgets, and coalitions are often formed in acts of human kindness to help. But ordinary citizens are the ones who rise best to the occasions, performing the acts of highest charity and philanthropy to help their fellow citizens emerge from these crises unharmed, and able to start new lives with some capital to build new lives.

Many non profit organizations in India and abroad, including crowdfunding India companies like Impact Guru, have run crowdfunding India campaigns to help raise disaster relief funds in the wake of natural disaster. Impact Guru has raised funds to help, for example, victims of the Chennai floods two years ago. Other organizations have helped victims of the rural floods in UP, Bihar, and Assam.

At these times, when the victims’ need is acute and immediate, we have observed that a lot of givers contribute of crowdfunding campaigns based on pure empathy. They give because they are moved by the condition that their fellow citizens are in. Their hunger, their discomfort, their distress, and their peril speaks closely to the potential donor, and they give because they believe that the donation will go into direct aid and make a quick and important difference. Crowdfunding India enables these donors, many of whom do not have a large amount to give but have as strong a will to donate as many of their richer counterparts with actual sizeable budgets for philanthropy.

While crowdfunding India allows inclusive giving in a participatory and democratic way, people also give heavily in kind in the aftermath of natural disaster, all over the world. Clothes, nonperishable food, and medicine given away with true goodwill have saved countless lives in the face of destruction through the ages.