With the season’s rice harvest gone, farmers line up in relief centers for bags of rice. (Photo: IRRI, Creative Commons license)

A series of earthquakes has left more than 1,100 dead in Indonesia in the last two days, while a second earthquake struck Samoa one day after a tsunami left at least 139 dead. Meanwhile, the Philippines is bracing for a new typhoon, just days after massive flooding from Typhoon Ketsana left over 350 dead and affected more than 2 million people in the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia.

In West Sumatra Province of Indonesia, officials expect the death toll to rise significantly as search and rescue teams work to find people trapped amid more than 500 destroyed buildings. The powerful quakes have driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes fearing the possibility of additional tremors. The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta announced it had provided $300,000 in emergency assistance and had set aside another $3 million.

More than 20 members of the InterAction alliance are responding to the crises in Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, preparing assessment teams and providing water, food, nonfood emergency items and health services.

A regularly updated list of organizations responding is available at the links above. InterAction has also developed guidelines on the most appropriate ways to help those affected by overseas disasters: