The unimaginable disaster in Asia on December 26th 2004 has resulted in the largest disaster relief response in the history of the world.
"International compassion has never been so high," said Mr. Jan Egeland, the UN undersecretary-general in charge of emergency relief.
In one week, $2 billion from 44 nations and the World Bank has now been pledged to meet the needs of 5 million survivors in 11 countries.
That's $400 per person.
Japan's Pledge
The highest single donation to date is a half billion dollar pledge from Japan.
"Japan will extend to affected countries and international organizations concerned $500 million in grant money as emergency assistance to cope with the damage," the embassy said, while adding that the Japanese emergency medical team had already commenced operations in Aceh.
America's Assistance
In his weekly radio address, President Bush said yesterday, "Americans are a compassionate people and we are already hard at work helping those nations meet these challenges.
Last week, President Bush offered an initial $35 million to the victims of the earthquake and tsunamis.
After further assessing the damage and the needs in Asia, the U.S. government has now increased this amount to $350 million.
Already, $15 million is in the hands of relief organizations in the affected countries.
The USS Abraham Lincoln war ship is already docked near Banda Aceh and assisting relief efforts through its several helicopters.
US Navy Member Delivers H20
The United States is also sending up to 1,500 marines to help Sri Lanka's tsunami relief efforts, an official said.
Meanwhile, everywhere you turn, the grocery store, at church, even online through retailers with millions of customers like Amazon, an effort is afront to reach out to the 12.26 tsunami victims and their families. Upon my first post about the tragedy, Amazon's customers had donated $900,000. Just days later, that amount has grown to over $12.6 million. In the six hours it took to research and write this story, Amazon raised over $300,000. 100% of these individual contributions will go straight to the American Red Cross.
Secretary of State Colin Powell and Governor Jeb Bush, who has extensive experience in the state of Florida with relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts following natural disasters are leading America's delegation. The delegation will meet with regional leaders and international organizations to assess what additional aid can be provided by the United States to the tsunami-stricken area.
On Thursday, Indonesia's capital Jakarta will host an international ASEAN tsunami crisis meeting.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan predicts reconstruction could take five to ten years.
U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell and Jeb Bush, the Governor of Florida, have already left Washington to take part in the Jakarta disaster relief summit.
Powell and Bush will report back to President Bush what additional aid the U.S. should bring to the current efforts.
The summit will include Secretary Powell, Governor Bush, USAID Administrator Andrew S. Natsios, along with UN Secretary General Annan, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
France, meanwhile, says it will coordinate all European relief efforts.
A donors’ pledging conference is scheduled for January 11th in Geneva.
Sweden Gives Up New Year's Fireworks Celebration: Donates Money Instead
New Year's celebrations in much of the world were muted or transformed into fund-raisers on Friday night.
A country that lives in more darkness than light from the beginning of November to February relishes in the once a year celebration on December 31st.
In America, it is commonplace to hear of people celebrating the new year in a different time zone then their own in order to get a good night's sleep. Not Swedes! They celebrate New Year's in a big way with fireworks in every city and in every household.
"New Year's fireworks are associated with festivities and happiness," said Gunilla Andreasson, editor of Barometern-OT, a newspaper that canceled its annual fireworks in the Swedish cities of Kalmar and Oskarshamn. "So many people in Sweden and around the world have been struck by this catastrophe."
Unlike Americans, Swedes are permitted to set off fireworks in the privacy of their own home.
This year, however, Sweden from city-to-city, home-to-home, gave up that celebration of light.
Instead they turned on their televisions to one of four Swedish TV channels and pledged 200 million kronor. 200 million kronor, which is equivalent to over $50 million, was raised in one night.
As of today, Swedes have given 500 million kronor ($75 million) to the relief effort, Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson said.
Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson
"Never has it been so difficult to welcome a new year. A year that for many in our country will be the most difficult ever," Persson said in a New Year's Eve speech.
The Foreign Ministry's web site had this additional message from Persson:
This will be the most dramatic catastrophe in our history.
Many, many Swedes will lose close friends, relatives and acquaintances, and it will hurt for a very long time.
Previously, the biggest disaster in Sweden in modern times was ten years ago, when just over 500 Swedes perished in the Estonia ferry disaster in the Baltic Sea.
20,000 Swedes were on holiday in Thailand the day after Christmas. Most of them were located precisely where the wave hit. Many of them were staying at the Khao Lak resort.
Only three days ago, 1,500 people were missing.
Now, a total of 3,559 Swedes are missing after data from travel companies who sold tickets to independent travelers were processed, said Swedish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Klaes Jernaeus in a telephone interview yesterday from Stockholm.
To put this into perspective, Sweden has a population of 9 million people. This would be equivalent to the U.S. losing 110,000 citizens.
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