The Top 5 Donors

[bmanly]

Just as an update, the top 5 donors in the world for the tsunami disaster is as follows in USD:

Japan $500 Million

USA $350 Million

Britain $96 Million

Italy $95 Million

Sweden $80 Million

These are from the Governments and does not include donations from citizens of those countries. The source was Dr. Keith Sutter www.seven.com.au/sunrise

Well done!

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Just as an update, the top 5 donors in the world for the tsunami disaster is as follows in USD:

Japan $500 Million

USA  $350 Million 

Britain $96 Million

Italy  $95 Million

Sweden $80 Million

These are from the Governments and does not include donations from citizens of those countries. The source was Dr. Keith Sutter www.seven.com.au/sunrise

Well done!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It is said that Australia is about to up its aid to $AUD 500 million.

[udon]

Ch 10 SYD repeated in 3 bulletins, yesdy, " the devastation across Thailand"

Idiot editor, if there is one!

[Boon Mee]

Just as an update, the top 5 donors in the world for the tsunami disaster is as follows in USD:

Japan $500 Million

USA   $350 Million 

Britain $96 Million

Italy   $95 Million

Sweden $80 Million

These are from the Governments and does not include donations from citizens of those countries. The source was Dr. Keith Sutter www.seven.com.au/sunrise

Well done!

It is said that Australia is about to up its aid to $AUD 500 million.

How's Kuwait & Saudi doing? Last heard 12 hours ago both those cheap-charlie countries hadn't ponied up squat!

[bmanly]

You are right, as of this morning the Saudis, Kuwatis etc were somewhere between the $10 and $15 million mark, each. Australia at present is running 10th at $46 million. That might change as the press is saying that a higher pledge of $500 million may come from the Australian Government after the meeting today in Indonesia.

[Digger]

Singapore seems to be very quiet on this issue. Given its per capita GDP is one of the highest in the world, they should have been doing more. Also they are nearer to Aceh than Jakarta is but I have not seen or heard anything about how there massive military capacity is being deployed to assist their neighbours.

[Wash]

Haven't heard a word from Putin... Guess he is too busy buying back the oil assets that were virtually given away originally. No money left?

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Haven't heard a word from Putin... Guess he is too busy buying back the oil assets that were virtually given away originally.  No money left?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He needs approval from the Russki mafia to send a single kopek

[bmanly]

Australian Prime Minister announces a $1 Billion Tsunami aid package. This is in addition to the $60 Million already given. Here's the link http://au.news.yahoo.com/041231/2/sefo.html

The public and corporate donations are up to $100 Million too. This Saturday night they are having a aid concert on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, all 3 commerical TV stations have got together for the appeal in a first time ever joint aid concert. The public donations will be much higher on the night.

Well done for a country of only 20 Million people!

[cdnvic]

Australian Prime Minister announces a $1 Billion Tsunami aid package. This is in addition to the $60 Million already given. Here's the link http://au.news.yahoo.com/041231/2/sefo.html

The public and corporate donations are up to $100 Million too. This Saturday night they are having a aid concert on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, all 3 commerical TV stations have got together for the appeal in a first time ever joint aid concert. The public donations will be much higher on the night.

Well done for a country of only 20 Million people!

Well done indeed Australia!

I hope the hand-wringers in Ottawa are watching and taking notes.

cv

[udon]

I just hope that an Aussie NGO controls the cheque book and not the Indo gov't.

Would love to visit Aceh and Medan in 6 months to see preliminary results of these grants, & from the ROTW.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I just hope that an Aussie NGO controls the cheque book and not the Indo gov't.

Would love to visit Aceh and Medan in 6 months to see preliminary results of these grants, & from the ROTW.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It is a pity Toxin told Howard to shove his money.

[mffun]

Just as an update, the top 5 donors in the world for the tsunami disaster is as follows in USD:

Japan $500 Million

USA   $350 Million 

Britain $96 Million

Italy   $95 Million

Sweden $80 Million

These are from the Governments and does not include donations from citizens of those countries. The source was Dr. Keith Sutter www.seven.com.au/sunrise

Well done!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Germany Responds to Tsunami Disaster With $660 Million

Source: New York Times

Edited January 5, 2005 by mffun

[aaaaaa]

Haven't heard a word from Putin... Guess he is too busy buying back the oil assets that were virtually given away originally.  No money left?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He needs approval from the Russki mafia to send a single kopek

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

that's very possibly close to truth....

last night on TV Taksin has mentioned that he received a phone call from Putin: "If you need any help - just voice it! remember - you have a real true friend here !"

my wife explained that actually Putin didn't offer any financial help simply because Thaksin said - "we don't need any". well, sounds reasonable, right? why to bluff and participate in "bidding war" as it was called by British Foreign Minister J. Straw - if people say - we can - NO NEED !? seems like Putin is being even smarter than T. Blair, who said we'll not encrease our pledge - coz no need to play bidding game ....

[aaaaaa]

this is where the whole fun begins ! one thing is - to make a pledge, another thing is - to encash it ! many other good point in the article below ...

-----------------------------------------

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...=1530&ncid=2337

Donor nations pressed to turn Asia tsunami pledges into reality

Tue, Jan 11, 2005

13 minutes ago Asia - AFP

GENEVA (AFP) - Unprecedented pledges worth billions of dollars for the Asian tsunami relief effort must be turned into reality to ensure aid gets to those who need it, a top UN official warned ahead of a key donors' conference here.

Jan Egeland, the UN emergency relief coordinator, said the global response so far to the disaster showed humanity at its best.

But the massive relief effort underway to help the stricken nations needed generous promises to be followed rapidly by hard cash.

In times of disaster, he said, "it's important that we get the pledges, the money early, and we spend it early, because hunger and disease doesn't wait.

"In this kind of catastrophe, there's a disproportion between generous pledges and the actual money delivered.

"We need the world to be held accountable and donors to be held accountable for what they promised and what they delivered."

Ministers and delegates from more than 80 countries and organisations have convened in Geneva under UN aegis for a conference aimed at firming up pledges and ensuring better coordination of how, when and where aid is delivered.

At the same time, Egeland called for some of the energy unleashed by the disaster to be harnessed for other crises around the world, notably in Africa.

So far, more than eight billion dollars has been pledged worldwide for the tsunami relief effort, a huge display of government and public support in line with the epic scale of a tragedy that has cost some 157,000 lives.

"We're seeing humanity at its very best in the beginning of 2005," Egeland told reporters here.

As well as donor governments, the conference is gathering aid agencies and nations struck by the December 26 disaster, triggered when a powerful undersea earthquake sent giant waves slamming into coastlines across the Indian Ocean.

Last week, at a flagship donors' conference in Jakarta, UN chief Kofi Annan (news - web sites) appealed for 977 million dollars in aid just for the next six months.

The UN has so far won commitments of nearly three billion dollars. Egeland said that "for the first time in history, we will have a flash appeal covered as it is launched."

But aid officials fear that as the disaster falls off the front pages, the amount actually delivered will reduce or be extracted from other causes.

"We want to see it materialise," said a spokeswoman for the British charity Oxfam.

"We want guarantees that it's new money, that it's not money that is being diverted from another disaster or existing aid budget" such as for Sudan.

"We will be looking very closely to the UK, the US, the European Commission (news - web sites) to explain where their money is going to come from."

Among key figures at the conference here are Andrew Natsios, head of the US overseas development agency USAID, and European Union (news - web sites) development commissioner Louis Michel.

Britain, France and Germany have also sent ministers.

Natsios said the meeting would focus on three stages of response: immediate relief, then reconstruction -- including new schools, homes and businesses as well as psychological counselling -- followed by longer-term development aid.

"Demand is what should drive this, not contribution levels," he added.

Earlier, a UN spokeswoman said the world body had accepted an offer from US auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers to monitor how the aid is delivered.

"We are in the process of drawing up a proposed accord which will be signed shortly," said Elisabeth Byrs of the UN humanitarian coordinating agency OCHA.

She said the agreement was part of UN efforts to ensure transparency in aid pledges. "Every dollar given will be audited so the public can be informed."

The offer -- Byrs said it was free -- came after scathing criticism of the way the UN ran its controversial Iraqi oil-for-food programme under the regime of former leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).

Before the tsunami relief meeting, donor countries also met over an appeal launched in November for 14 other crises ranging from the Democratic Republic of Congo (news - web sites) to Chechnya (news - web sites) and the Palestinian territories.

"Human life has the same value everywhere," Egeland said, while noting that it was harder to summon aid to help alleviate crises in Africa than it was for the tsunami relief effort or a previous UN appeal on Iraq (news - web sites).

[Waverider]

An alternative view to the Top 5 lists and other stuff being posted here and in other threads. This is not my view and I cannot vouch for the accuracy of anything in this article. Let's just hope that some of the money ends up helping the people who need it most, but I have my doubts.

The US Isn't Stingy; It's Strategic

"At first glance, a country's generosity in foreign aid seems a good measure of whether the U.S. or any other nation is a good global neighbor. Certainly the high percentage contributions of the Nordic and other Western European countries make them immune to charges that they are stingy. Moreover, these same leading aid donors don't tie their aid to their own products and technical assistance.

But foreign aid is not always an unqualified good, especially when it comes from a country whose aid strategy is so closely tied to its global war strategy and to its neoliberal economic policies."

[aaaaaa]

South Asia - AFP

Wed Jan 19, 5:09 AM ET

Kumaratunga flags off 3.5 billion dollar tsunami recovery drive

====================================================

India unveils $628m tsunami aid

====================================================

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4282204

Tsunami

World Bank Considers $1.5 Billion in Tsunami Relief

by Kathleen Schalch

Morning Edition, January 13, 2005 · The president of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, returns to the United States after a nine-day tour of tsunami-devastated areas in Asia. Wolfensohn says the World Bank is still assessing the damage, but could pledge up to $1.5 billion in reconstruction funds. NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports.

==============================

World - Reuters

.... Governments, aid groups, individuals, corporations and international agencies have pledged more than $7 billion in aid to Asia's tsunami victims.

But donors have to date promised just $739 million of the $977 million the U.N. system says is needed in emergency aid to meet the basic needs of victims over the next six months, according to Kevin Kennedy, a senior official of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

from article by Jerry Norton and Dean Yates :

Global Tsunami Death Toll Tops 226,000

[aaaaaa]

from CNN

Aid groups warn on U.S. pullout

Friday, January 21, 2005 Posted: 1134 GMT (1934 HKT)

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) -- Aid groups have warned it might be too soon for the U.S. military to scale back its emergency operations for Asia's tsunami victims.

[aaaaaa]

seems like "bidding" still continues ! amazing !

Bush aims to boost US tsunami aid

US President George W Bush has said he is seeking a $600m (£323m) boost in aid to nations hit by the Asian tsunami....

The $950m tsunami aid package includes:

$346m to reimburse the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Defence Department for their relief efforts in the region

$339m for reconstruction - from rebuilding roads and schools to major water systems

$168m to help victims with food, shelter, housing and education

$35m for tsunami early warning systems and disaster mitigation efforts

$62m for technical assistance for reconstruction activities and the costs of US government operations in the affected countries

perhaps for this :

Tsunami opens door for normalisation of US-Indonesia military ties

...The crucial role of US troops in relief operations in Indonesia's stricken Aceh province and the election of US-trained former general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as Indonesia's president augur well for restoration of military ties between the superpower and the world's largest Muslim nation, analysts say...

========================================

Seabed Images Show Ruptures From Tsunami

Sat Feb 12, 8:29 PM ET

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer

...The United States, meanwhile, said it was preparing to more than double its pledge for tsunami relief to $950 million....

Australia has promised $810 million, followed by Germany's $660 million, the European Commission (news - web sites)'s $624 million and Japan's $540 million.

==============================

while the reality is :

U.N. pleads for cash, not pledges

Thursday, February 10, 2005 Posted: 0057 GMT (0857 HKT)

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) -- The United Nations says governments have only given a fraction of the money they pledged for tsunami aid and warned that more cash is needed to fund long-term reconstruction efforts....

Nations have pledged $977 million, but only $360 million has reached the world body's coffers, said Margareta Wahlstrom, special envoy of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"This is our key message to government donors: Please convert your pledges into hard cash in the bank. It's only cash in the bank that makes it possible to do work on the ground," she said Monday in Geneva, Switzerland.

Although the United Nations is not short of funds to maintain its humanitarian relief operations, it warned that money was still needed in the long run for reconstruction.

Governments "are very generous classically with food, health, and children, but they are very slow in filling us up on livelihoods and shelter," she said.

The U.S. State Department said last week that Washington has given nearly $119 million out of $350 million it has pledged in tsunami aid.....

=============================================

well, show must go on, right?

[aaaaaa]

Tsunami rebuilding bill outgrows world's gifts

Reconstruction could cost £6.65bn, but so far only £2.92bn has been pledged

Owen Bowcott

Thursday February 17, 2005

The Guardian

The total cost of reconstructing areas devastated by the Asian tsunami could be as high as $12.5bn (£6.65bn), according to the first overall assessment by the UN.

The estimate comes as charities around the world world wide start closing their appeals because they believe enough has been raised.

But so far promises for only $5.5bn (£2.92bn) have been received. The UN development programme, which is coordinating the next phase of the aid effort, fears it may yet suffer a shortfall in funds needed to pay for longer term reconstruction.....

[LadyinRed]

Singapore seems to be very quiet on this issue.  Given its per capita GDP is one of the highest in the world, they should have been doing more.  Also they are nearer to Aceh than Jakarta is but I have not seen or heard anything about how there massive military capacity is being deployed to assist their neighbours.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Singapore's help to Aceh and Meulaboh is already old news (I do realise I am posting this pretty late).

Helicopters and Super Pumas were dispatched as early as 27/28 Dec together with medics and defense forces. Water purification stations were setup. Word is they left early around mid Jan 05.

So... the multi-million baht question is: WHERE IS ALL 'ZER MONEY? (Guess it won't be hard to figure that out)