This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A string of major disasters in 2026 have had devastating consequences. Earthquakes in Venezuela and Colombia and floods and mudslides in Nepal have killed tens of thousands of people and injured many more.
Countless people remain missing, and hundreds of thousands of homes are damaged, with some entire neighborhoods destroyed. The responses have been global. For Nepal alone, the United Nations Global Emergency Fund has allocated US$2 million, while the United States has committed more than $3 million and the European Union has sent just under $3 million.
Major humanitarian organizations such as Direct Relief and Save the Children have started fundraising campaigns to support response efforts in Nepal. Among the first to respond have been support groups set up by people originally from countries hit by disasters but now living elsewhere. While small in scale, these diaspora groups are well positioned to respond quickly to disasters.
They have developed partnerships with community groups on the ground in their home countries. They also have a strong pool of donors—among the diaspora and beyond—in the U.S. I study philanthropy and nonprofits and research diaspora-led nonprofits.
These organizations play multiple roles. They support other people in their immigrant communities in the U.S. and engage in preserving their cultures while living far from their homelands. Increasingly, they also respond to urgent needs in their countries of origin.
The money people living abroad send to their relatives and friends back home is called remittances. Globally, more than $900 billion flows across borders annually this way. Diaspora communities are also playing a growing role in development aid and disaster-response giving in many countries.
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