Dec 31 2004
Tenfold?
U.S. Tsunami Aid Skyrockets to $350M BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) - The United States upped its tsunami relief aid tenfold to $350 million Friday as the world’s ships and planes converged on devastated shores. Bottlenecks of supplies built up, fears of epidemics grew, and in an echo of 9/11’s aftermath, people at a Thai resort scoured a bulletin board of 4,000 photos in search of the dead and missing.
Six days after the earthquake and tsunamis that ravaged 3,000 miles of African and Asian coastline, the death toll passed 121,000, and 5 million people were homeless. Remote Indian islanders were said to be facing starvation.
This is wonderful, but the article is mistaken. The government of the United States has increased its offer of aid by 23.3 fold. Remember, the initial offer was $15 million, which they then upped to $35 million after it was pointed out to them that they were being kind of stingy. Also, I don’t know that “skyrocket” is the term I would have chosen, since we are spending more than $350 million every two days on George’s invasion of Iraq.
I’m glad that the individual citizens of the United States are taking up the slack. It is going to take a lot to even make a dent. Please see the previous post for ways in which you can help.
