Singh’s self-professed perfectionism extends far beyond fixing wobbly chairs or faulty televisions. Instead, he focuses his attention on a global issue that he believes is easily reparable. For the past four months, Singh has devoted two to 10 hours a week volunteering for the Red Cross’s worldwide disaster relief efforts.

Singh’s work consists of compressing and summarizing data from the International Research Institute for Climate and Society. The raw data is collected in developing countries and, once summarized, it is used to compare the cost effectiveness of preemptive action with post-disaster measures.

According to a report by the Center for American Progress, in the past two years Congress has spent at least $136 billion on disaster relief efforts.

“So, how can we most effectively put our resources into aiding disasters that are inevitably going to happen?” said Singh. “Should we put blankets and tents in the villages before the disaster?”

Singh has worked with developing countries in regions such as Eastern Africa, Western Africa, Southern Africa, Central America, South America and Southeast Asia. He estimates that, at worst, preparedness offers a 10 percent decrease in expense. At best, the figure is much higher.

Singh hopes that disaster preparedness will enable many countries outside of the US to deal with common natural occurrences as fluidly as possible.

“When it snows here, we can plow the roads and get everything back to normal in about a day,” Singh said. “But a lot of the rest of the world is at the mercy of the elements.”

Singh’s work may be used to convince large organizations that preemptive measures are the right course of action for disaster relief.

“If you’re interested in something, even if you can’t travel or go abroad, that doesn’t mean that you can’t help,” said Singh.