William MacAskill is a University of Oxford philosopher, who questions the effectiveness of seemingly altruistic actions, particularly in his book Doing Good Better. In this case, he argues against donating to disaster relief programs.

A controversial opinion, but according to MacAskill, the dramatic nature of recent disasters make us complacent about ongoing, everyday disasters such as poverty and disease.

Disasters are associated with emergencies that must be addressed instantly. This, of course, is true, but issues like poverty-related deaths and disease should receive the same treatment. Currently, they aren’t getting the same “emergency” response from donors.

For example, for every death that occurred due to Japan’s Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, aid organizations received $330,000 in donations. Foreign aid and philanthropy, on the other hand, receives $15,000 for every person who dies from poverty-related causes worldwide, according to MacAskill's calculations.