Comparisons between the American fund raising results for Haitian earthquake relief and the efforts after Hurricane Katrina and the Southeast Asian tsunami are inevitable. Private giving by Americans, individuals, foundations and corporations has always been generous. Our economy is significantly weaker than it was in 2004-2005 and that may be the biggest factor affecting giving to date.

Some of the historical numbers include money raised by churches. Those collections have happened but have not been reported publicly as far as can be determined for the Haiti relief effort.

Here are the current results as recorded on this site. The column titles are links to the articles on that topic.

This table will be updated as the donations continue for Haitian relief. Obviously there is quite a ways to go to catch up to the levels from Hurricane Katrina or the tsunami.

Indonesia has opened a $5.6 million museum to commemorate the 230,000 people who died in the 2004 Asian tsunami.

The four-level building in hardest-hit Aceh province exhibits photographs of victims, stories of survivors and an electronic simulation of the massive undersea earthquake that triggered the 30-foot-high waves.

It also describes the tremendous outpouring of support from governments, companies and individuals in the aftermath of the Dec. 26, 2004 disaster, which caused death and destruction in a dozen nations.

More than $13 billion was pledged to house and feed survivors and to rebuild devastated coasts.

Fox News

Thanks to Glenn Reynolds for the link. It’s obsolete, so go here:

LINK

That’s the entire category.

My compilation of private American aid for tsunami relief, the Stingy List, went over a billion dollars. I was less than enthusiastic about the pledges of various governments, and it would seem, for good reason.

BBC Newsnight

Renewed civil war in the north of Sri Lanka has hampered the rebuilding effort there but it is does not explain the performance of governments in meeting their pledges.

According to the UN DAD database Spain promised $60m and delivered less than $1m. France pledged $79m and came up with just over $1m.

When we contacted them they said “all the figures are confirmed, therefore you can be sure they are accurate”.

The Chinese promised even more – $301m – and delivered – just $1m. In the Maldives, Kuwait allocated just under $10m but they have yet to spend a single cent and in Indonesia America promised over $400m and so far has delivered less than $70m.

As pointed out in the article, some of this aid was predicated on a five or even ten year plan, so would not be disbursed as yet. Some of it is entirely dependent upon planning at the national and local levels in the affected nations. But, as others as well as I have pointed out, national governments are good at making aid pledges but lousy at keeping them.

And, as I am a frequent critic of the Red Cross, I have to point this out from the BBC story.

The Red Cross around the world has been given more than $2.2bn. According to their own figures most of that – $1.3bn – is still in the bank.

The Red Cross promised to build 50,000 permanent houses in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. So far only 8,000 have been completed.

The British Red Cross contracted to build over 2,000 houses and have so far completed 16 although another 300 are nearly ready.

Compare all this to the successes of private, mostly religious charities that have been the subject of posts in this category. Sad, truly sad on the part of the Red Cross.

The moral of the story is twofold. Don’t rely on a government to bail you out in a disaster. And, if you donate for disaster relief, pick an organization with people on the ground in the affected region 24/7.

Sunday Times: Tsunami survivors given the lash

Disaster donations help Islamic vigilante force impose punishments on women

As the man who managed the Stingy List, I can say without fear that this story is tripe, balderdash, hooey.

Readers of this blog have known for years that sharia is a growing menace in Indonesia. The formerly august Sunday Times of London conflates the growth of sharia with the donations for tsunami relief without producing one iota of evidence.

Indeed, buried in the story is the good news. The peace between the rebels and the national government is holding. The first free election in Aceh history was just held successfully. And… a former rebel has been elected Governor. It doesn’t get much better than this.

There is no evidence that any donations have been diverted to the religious police. At worst, tens of dollars have been freed up to pay these thugs. Other than a flat statement that local governments are paying them, however, no evidence is produced to support the claim.

Please also note the anonymous quote from the UN official. They’re well known for their honesty, right?

The area that the tsunami devastated is recovering slowly, for similar and for differing reasons.

Indonesia is a struggling democracy. Many of the planning functions we assume are part of a government do not exist or do not operate very well. Indonesian culture also does not operate at a 24/7 Western pace. Indonesia is attempting to comply with Western NGO and UN demands for city planning while dealing with hundreds of thousands of people who just want to move home and go back to work. The fly-in, fly-out NGOs and the UN have their noses out of joint because the Indonesians won’t do exactly what these foreigners want.

Sri Lank is an example of what could have happened in Aceh. The national government has refused to allow much of the aid to reach the rebel-held areas stricken by the tsunami. In non-rebel areas they are working quite well with the fly-ins, having insisted that fishing villages move well inland and making the beaches available for tourism.

Thailand has recovered the best, but the Islamic rebellion has grown in proportion to that recovery, harming the tourist business.

Burma has denied all along that they suffered any damage. The Chinese Communists have an extensive network of companies and even a base or two on that coast.

India has endured multiple claims of corruption concerning its management of the aid on their mainland. In the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, because of Indian military interests, the natives are being forced to abandon their homes and life styles.

Region-wide, the UN has stopped aid groups from providing fishing boats to the villages who lost their boats in the tsunami. The UN has determined that the region is over fished and so it is refusing to allow fishermen to have fishing boats.

I cannot stress enough that there are some very effective aid organizations. All of them have people on the ground 24/7, and nearly all of them are religion-based. You cannot provide aid from an office in London, Geneva or Jakarta. You have to be on site.

This story is typical of the attacks launched by the fly-ins and the UN. When the locals want a say in their future, or when they have different ideas, these stories pop up. The election in Aceh means that the “cooperative” government has been forced out and a truly local government elected. The UN and the fly-ins “just can’t work with these people”.