Had this unfortunate tragedy taken place closer to home, i am quite sure the international recovery effort would have been a damn sight quicker and the monies donated by their respected governments would have been a damn sight higher.
Well if you are white you are all white. If you are any other colour, too bad i guess. Unless your country happens to be extremely rich.
Then you can be rest assured that every other government in the western world, (including big business) would be falling over themselves backwards in order to help.
Talk about western governments being stingy! If this is the best they can do, then maybe next time they should not bother. Yes it would appear that Ebenezer Scrooge is definately in full swing.
Don't be part of the problem, be part of the solution.
USA1 said this in post #3 : The contributions from the US will be over $1 billion.
If this was Hawaii, how many countries would be as generous?
The only reason why the American and British governments for example have increased the amounts in aid money was due to mounting pressure from the general public and the media.
I am sorry i think you have lost me Hawaii. I am not sure what it is you are trying to get at.
Don't be part of the problem, be part of the solution.
flying panda said this in post #5 : well the British government only gave more because the British public gave really generously, and the government didnt want to be out-staged
Hardly suprising! Talk about arm twisting.
Don't be part of the problem, be part of the solution.
The United States in case anyone is interested in facts is the country that has provided 60% of disaster relief. No one can match the generosity of the Americans.
Now we have Bill and Big George to get the funds from the little people.
But you know people who in the hell cares which country gives the most? This Disaster affects the entire world.
Just wish one time French could keep their idiotic mouths closed and not say derogatory remarks about the US not stepping up fast enough, who measures these things? Stupid waste of time.What matters is that we the USA have the Abraham Lincoln Carrier loaded with Helicopters and are running to the back islands to recover and give aid.
There are American Marines on the grounds doing cleanup work. The costs of these care givers and recovery teams is not included in the amount of money we give.
with the exception of the Aussies where prey tell are the rest of the countries?
Making pledges is easy, doing things is what counts.
My prime worry is that the UN will be taking all the credit and what we really need is the red white and blue flags stuck all over every piece of Aid we send.
Why do we think the UN can be trusted with any monies after the Oil for food scam? Annan is ruining around politicking to sweep over the mess he and his son are really involved in with the OFF scam.
D
aka deltacent aka deltater
Life may not be the party I had hoped for.......
But while I'm here I might just as well listen to the music and dance..
Despite hurdles, U.N. sees ‘great progress’
Donations in the billions, but disease, malnutrition remain menacesNBC, MSNBC and news services
Updated: 5:45 p.m. ET Jan. 4, 2005Heavy rains and floods were holding up efforts to aid victims of the Asian tsunami, but the United Nations said Tuesday that “extraordinary progress” was being made and that the total amount of aid pledged had risen to between $2 billion and $3 billion.
There was a growing threat of diseases that could kill tens of thousands more than the 150,000 people already known to have died. The World Health Organization said it had already received a handful of reports of malaria and dengue fever in Thailand and hundreds of reports of diarrhea and infected wounds in most tsunami-hit countries.
“It is a race against time,” the agency said.
The main airport on Indonesia’s Sumatra island reopened after it was closed for hours when a relief plane hit a herd of cows, hampering efforts to get aid to victims of the disaster. But the region’s hospitals still overflowed with injured and malnourished survivors, and almost 870,000 people left without homes were being sheltered in 800 camps.
Leaders from around the world were heading to southern Asia to get a firsthand look at the damage and to work out a plan to help the millions of victims of the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami. Secretary of State Colin Powell, in Thailand on Tuesday, pledged America’s full support, while the U.S. military announced plans to double to about 90 the number of helicopters it was providing for the aid effort.
Many more deaths expected
The death toll rose above 150,000, U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland told reporters Tuesday — “how many more, we don’t know.” Relief workers said they expected the toll to soar by tens of thousands because surveys of Sumatra’s west coast showed that it was hit a lot harder than previously thought.
Powell said 4,000 to 5,000 Americans remained unaccounted for. A 16th American was confirmed to have died, the State Department said.
Scores of villages have been flattened, and in some areas few survivors have been spotted. But rushing aid to anyone still alive has proved a nightmare, with roads and sea jetties washed away. Torrential rains and flooding were further hampering efforts.
“We are making extraordinary progress in reaching the majority of the people affected in the majority of the areas,” Egeland said. “We are also experiencing extraordinary obstacles in many, many areas.”
Egeland said that donations toward disaster relief were growing daily and that “we are somewhere between $2 billion and $3 billion in total pledges,” including funds intended for longer-term reconstruction. But the relief effort still needs more trucks, helicopters, aircraft, landing craft, base camps, fuel stores, water treatments plants and generators, he said.
Earlier, on NBC’s “Today” show, Egeland estimated that “tens of thousands of people have received no relief.”
Banda Aceh airport closed, hospitals overwhelmed
After the grounding of planes in Banda Aceh, the main city on the northern tip of the island, the flying was left to helicopters, primarily from U.S. Navy vessels anchored offshore, to drop food parcels.
No one was hurt when a Boeing 737 relief cargo plane hit cows after it landed at Banda Aceh airport, but the closing of the runway highlighted the vulnerability of the relief effort as waves of aid began pouring into Sumatra.
The airport had been swamped with round-the-clock traffic, with dozens of aircraft hauling in water, biscuits and medicine.
U.S. helicopter pilots, meanwhile, were ferrying survivors to medical help in Banda Aceh, an operation that created yet another bottleneck: overcrowded hospitals.
About a dozen people lay on stretchers Tuesday on the sidewalk outside Fakina Hospital. Inside, many rooms had no power, blood was splattered on walls and there were not enough stands for intravenous fluid bags being used to rehydrate survivors. Instead, they were dangling from cords strung across the ceiling.
Donors’ conference
Leaders from stricken nations and world donors will meet Thursday to iron out problems in coordinating an unprecedented $2 billion global relief operation. They will also discuss an ambitious plan to set up an Indian Ocean tsunami warning system.
Asian leaders including Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi — whose nation’s $500 million pledge makes it the biggest single country contributor so far — were to attend the summit, along with Powell, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, World Bank President James Wolfensohn and top European Union officials.
“The United States will certainly not turn away from those in desperate need,” Powell told leaders in Thailand following earlier criticism that Washington had been slow to respond. “The aftermath of the tsunami is a tragedy for the entire world. ... I think we have demonstrated in recent days our willingness to provide support.”
Japan was also preparing to send soldiers and aircraft to the disaster zone, and a 20-member military team left Tuesday to study the needs in the region.
Egeland reiterated concerns that the focus on tsunami aid would siphon off money for other crisis areas around the world, such as in Africa.
“Here is my criticism to the rich world: Could we wake up please to those 20 forgotten emergencies as we have woken up so generously to this enormous tsunami that has hit 5 million people and killed more than 150,000?” he said Monday.
“I appeal to the rich world — and the rich world, I identify as 30 to 40 nations — the rich world should be able to pick up the bill for feeding all the children in the world. It is one day’s worth of military spending.”
Other developments
In related news:
The U.N. Children’s Fund and other child welfare groups warned that child-trafficking gangs could be whisking orphaned children into trafficking networks or selling them into forced labor or even sexual slavery in wealthier countries. Indonesia placed restrictions on youngsters leaving the country, ordered police commanders to be on the lookout for trafficking and posted special guards in refugee camps.
UNICEF also raised concerns that a “tsunami generation” of children was likely to suffer more than adults in the aftermath of the tragedy. At least a third of those who died were children, and some who survived may now struggle to secure food and water and to withstand diseases that frequently follow catastrophes, it said.
The French government urged people to continue donating money Tuesday after the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, came under heavy criticism for saying it had enough funds and did not want any more money to finance its relief efforts. Other aid groups said the statement could undercut the unprecedented wave of private giving.
Europeans from Riga to Rome will observe three minutes of silence Wednesday to remember those killed by the tsunami and contemplate the millions of other lives devastated by the disaster.
NBC’s Andrea Mitchell and Tamara Kupperman in Washington, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
aka deltacent aka deltater
Life may not be the party I had hoped for.......
But while I'm here I might just as well listen to the music and dance..
Delta said this in post #8 : The costs of these care givers and recovery teams is not included in the amount of money we give.
Actually it is.
The amount pledged by the government includes wages for all the army and marines, etc and their food and shelter and the cost of the fuel to fly the planes and choppers over there. Every expense that the military incurs in sending people or things to the area will be included towards the tally of funds spent on aid.
This is a run down of who is giving what:
Japan - The b iigest donater at $500 million and has also sent 120 medical workers to the region with the promise of more.
USA - Second biggest donater with $350 million and $120 million from the public
World Bank $250 million emergency cover while longer term needs are assesed
Norway $182 million and $30 million in private donations
Asian development bank - $175 million and the promise of another $150 million in the long term.
UK - $96 million from governmnet and the UK public have given the most with $146 million in donations which the govcernmnet has promised to match, the devolved governmnets of Ireland, Wales and Scotland have also made smaller pledges that will be added to the national pledge Debts have also been frozen
Itlay - $95 million and public donations of $20 miilion. Itlay is also sending forensic specialists to help with body indentification.
Sweden - $80 million in governmnet dontions and $60 million private donations
Denmark- $ 75 million plus field hospitals and ships to carry aid to the region.
Spain - $68 miilion and medical teams.
France - $66 million and $49 million plus medicla teams
Canada - $66 million from governmnet and $29 milion from public. Canadian governmnet will match public doinations, also a Disaster response team has been sent to the area and debts have been frozen.
China - $60 million and public donations of $ 1.8 million
S. Korea - $50 million over 3 yeras and $13 million in public donations.
Australia - $46 million in governmnet aid and $58 million from the public. Austrailia are also sending a water purification plant and medical teams.
EU - $ 31 million and this may be increased to tens of millions of Euro's
Germany - $27 million ingovernmnet aid but is et to rise to a massive $680 million public have donated $130 million. Water purification units have also been sent.
Qatar - $25 million in government aid along with medcial and logistical teams.
All that money and it is still not enough which means it is vital that these figures are reviewed by governmnets daily.
These figures do not include military assistance that is being given all I know is that the US, UK, Frnace, Germany and Austrailia have given a lot of military support to these areas.
lots of bodies are going to be sent to Japan for identifcation, they have too many bodies to id on scene, so families abroad will have to wieght longer to have funerals etc.
People need to think about the long haul efforts, Like in three months when this disaster leaves the front pages of the worlds papers. The USA has plans for this. I wonder if other countries have same.?
D
aka deltacent aka deltater
Life may not be the party I had hoped for.......
But while I'm here I might just as well listen to the music and dance..
12-31-2004 07:48 PM
