America's North Shore Journal » Tsunami relief
Habitat for Humanity’s Tsunami Recovery Overview
Habitat for Humanity In the year since the Indian Ocean tsunami, Habitat for Humanity has assisted an estimated 6,000 households in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand to gain permanent housing. Over the next 24 months, Habitat for Humanity plans to provide direct housing assistance to as many as 20,000 families, and to assist 10,000 to 15,000 more households with training and disaster mitigation services. Program targets* Jan. 1, 2005–Dec. 31, 2007 Total families to be served — 35,000 Families to receive direct housing assistance — 20,000 Additional families to be served through training and disaster mitigation — 10,000–15,000 *At the one-year mark, countries have revised their individual goals; if the new goals are met, 21,000 families will receive housing and more than 39,000 households will be served. The first year Funds raised — US$54 million Funds transferred to implementing … Read entire article »
Filed under: Charity, Stingy List, Tsunami relief
Tsunami Anniversary
It’s one year since the tsunami ravaged the coasts of South Asia. If you’d like to read about the initial relief effort, it’s fairly well documented in my blog. I originated the Stingy List, a PDF file listing the billion plus dollars donated to tsunami relief by Americans, individuals, businesses and groups. The Financial Times had pointed out in a series that much of the money overseen by the United Nation is spent in overhead, or the UN is refusing to disclose its uses. I’d link, but the Financial Times hides behind a registration. This point has come up in the past. In August, I answered the whining of a leftist aid group in my post titled Tsunami: Aid Use. In the post is a table, illustrating the moneys pledged by … Read entire article »
Filed under: Charity, Commentary, Original writing, Stingy List, Tsunami relief
Time’s Person of the Year
Poliblog points out this story. Time picks three very rich people as their person[s] of the year. For their giving, of course. I agree with him that there were a number of better choices. I once wrote that while it was laudable what Princess Diana did in her chairitable endeavours, she could afford to. Bill and Melinda Gates, and Bono can also afford to be generous. It the people who make time to be generous, who give a dollar more than they can afford, who ought to be the Persons of the Year. Americans gave over a billion dollars at the beginning of the year to tsunami relief. They gave over a billion dollars to hurricane relief in the Gulf. Americans gave up valuable time to coach Little Leage teams, to guide Cub … Read entire article »
Filed under: Americans, Charity, Commentary, Katrina relief, Original writing, Stingy List, Tsunami relief
Tsunami: Donations and Status
I’m no longer working on the Stingy List, but I did want to point out that tsunami charity continues worldwide. Gulf Times BRITISH Airways together with Ramada Hotel and Doha Golf Club has raised QR180,000 for Southeast Asia’s tsunami-stricken children. The money was raised at an auction gala dinner organised during a celebrity amateur golf tournament, with international celebrities from the UK and individual contributors from Qatar participating. At an awards ceremony held at the British Airways office recently, representatives of British Airways, Ramada Hotel and Doha Golf Club presented a cheque for the amount to Omar Shehadeh, Unicef Gulf area office representative, a spokesman for British Airways said in a release. Rory Black, British Airways commercial manager for Qatar and Bahrain, said the donation will help make a difference in the lives of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Charity, Stingy List, Tsunami relief
Tsunami: Six Months and Building
I’ve completed a more detailed look at the state of tsunami aid on the six month anniversary of the disaster. That page is called Tsunami Aid. It’s not meant to be comprehensive, just representative of the work that’s been done and that to be done. It covers the world’s response, not just Americas. If you want some idea of what happened to your money, go take a look. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Charity, Stingy List, Tsunami relief
Tsunami: Aid Use
Ian, from Astonished Head calls my attention to the following story. The press release from which some of it is derived is here. SIFY News Some 60 per cent of all announced international aid does not exist, global pressure group ActionAid said on Thursday, singling out the United States and France as the main culprits in “phantom” aid. A “classic example” of real versus phantom aid is money pledged for victims of last year’s Asian tsunami disaster, John Samuel, Asia director of ActionAid International, told a news conference. He cited Australia, which he said had so far only managed to give seven per cent of the money it had pledged. He also named France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States as among other countries who have not delivered on their tsunami … Read entire article »
Filed under: Charity, Tsunami relief
Tsunami: News Notices
I can now reveal: I was interviewed by a reporter with Reuters, in London, on Monday of this week. This followed several e-mails from their Washington Bureau. They were researching a story about tsunami aid on the sixth month anniversary, and they had come across The Stingy List [PDF file}. Here is the portion of the report about me. Yahoo link, which shall vanish like the wind at some point. Reuters via Yahoo By Tim Large LONDON (Reuters) – In the weeks following the Asian tsunami, Chuck Simmons squirreled himself away in his home in Rochester, New York, scouring the Internet for any scrap of evidence to document American generosity after the disaster. From corporate fundraisers to Salvation Army “kettle campaigns,” he spent more than 100 hours tallying up almost 1,000 private donations for “The Stingy … Read entire article »
Filed under: Blogging, Charity, Media, Old Media, Stingy List, Tsunami relief
Tsunami: Donation News
I have been interviewed about the Stingy List by a certain European news agency. They are working on a story about the donations to tsunami relief and where we stand at the six month anniversary. I will post about the story when it goes on the wire, which should be this week. I have no idea what it will say, but I did respond to questions about the lower per capita donations by Americans. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Blogging, Charity, Stingy List, Tsunami relief
Coming Soon: Future Posts
- Declaration of War 1812 (in 129 days)
- USS President vs HMS Belvidera (in 134 days)
- General Hull Invades Canada (in 153 days)
- First Battle of Sacketts Harbor (in 160 days)
On Y!CN
- Radioactive Gravel from Japanese Nuke Disaster Used in Buildings
- Fuel Supplies Reach Nome
- Fuel Convoy Reaches Nome
- Russians Sail to Rescue of Ice Bound Alaska Community
- Pope Embraces Anglicans in U.S. with New Ordinariate
- Nebraska Nuke Plant Placed on Special Inspection Status
- Radioactive Water Leaks at Japanese Nuke Site
- Japan Damaged Nuke Plants Still Not Under Control
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Massive fraud hits tsunami aid
April 17th, 2006 | Comments Off
It’s the Brits that have complaints, but I imagine most aid agencies will agree. Times Banda Aceh was ground zero in the tsunami of Boxing Day 2004, which claimed more than 200,000 lives across the Indian Ocean. More people died here than anywhere else. Now two charities that raised unprecedented sums in Britain have fallen victim to rip-offs that ruined their efforts to house the survivors and have forced them to suspend key projects. Save the Children and Oxfam were both targeted by unscrupulous building contractors who took their money, only to build structures so flimsy that a new wave would wash them away. Save the Children may have to write off more than £400,000 worth of building contracts. Oxfam, which counts its losses in “tens of thousands of poundsâ€, has stopped its construction work … Read entire article »
Filed under: Charity, Commentary, Original writing, Tsunami relief