Perspectives On The Chengdu Earthquake

American Jewish World Service, my charity of choice, does not have a program set up in China, and is referring donors to InterAction.org and Charity Navigator to find charities.
Before donating to any charity, please check it out first through Charity Navigator so you can see exactly how much of your donation will actually go to help people and how much will be wasted on overhead. Every penny counts.
EastSouthWestNorth continues to have the best English-language coverage of the aftermath (physical, social, and political) of the Chengdu earthquake, and The China Beat has had some interesting posts about the history of disasters in China and the Chinese Red Cross.
Foreign bloggers have written interesting articles about surviving the quake and the nation’s mourning process.

A more upbeat story can be found in The Guardian (who have a special China Earthquake section) about a school that was built properly and didn’t collapse:

While other schools disintegrated, [the Liu Han Hope Elementary school] stood firm. Even the three-storey glass wall remained intact. When the slopes around them began to threaten their safety, staff marched pupils as young as five out of their remote home on an all-day, all-night trek.

The school’s proper construction apparently is due to the dillegance of one righteous man:

A Chinese blogger and TV commentator, Li Chengpeng, said he had spoken to the project manager. The man, who did not want to be named, said his bosses had stressed the importance of safety – but also recalled the battles that had involved. On one occasion he had to force builders to replace substandard cement. On another, he had to fight officials who had intercepted part of the funding.