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.

	HAITI QUAKE	HURRICANE KATRINA	INDONESIAN TSUNAMI
Date:	Jan 12, 2010	Aug 29, 2005	Dec 26, 2004
Plus 6 days	$156,044,390
Plus 7 days			$207,882,580
Plus 11 days		$632,783,990	$401,784,551
Plus 13 days	$306,797,596		$456,916,726

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.

BBC

Philanthropy is so well established it has spawned its own academic discipline.

New York University has a department of philanthropy. There is also the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

I have even attended a philanthropy workshop in the bowels of Congress, where rich Americans learned how to give their money away and how to make sure it was spent on the right causes.

Whether it is the quest for a legacy, the desire to change the world, the determination not to spoil one’s children or simply the tax code, Americans – wealthy and not so wealthy – are giving their dollars away by the lorry load.

And the rest of the world has a long way to catch up.

The author takes a shot at the United States government by suggesting that private Americans gave more for tsunami relief than our government did. He’s “Yeah, but…” correct. No other government could send a carrier battle group and a whole bunch of Marines to do what they did in those first days. I suggest that the costs of being ready to be able to do that count in part if you do the sums.

He mentions James Smithson, who gave the world the Smithsonian Instutution, Andrew Carnegie who could be aptly called the father of the modern free public library, and modern givers like Bill Gates and Ted Turner. He correctly points out that Americans, private citizens, businesses and groups, give more than anyone else in the world.

People will quibble with the per capita numbers. Those always leave out giving to churches and church related issues. Americans are among the few left in the world who even attend churches much less give to them. And church giving, Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision, Catholic Charities, counts for more than just dollars. Those groups put people on the ground where they are needed, not just holding press conferences in London or Bern. That’s the other hand of American giving, the time we give. The Scouts, any sort of organized sports, community theater, firefighting and EMS, all could not exist without volunteers and Americans do just that.

Here’s a bloke who sees a part of America many don’t.

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 countries — US$12 million**

Families receiving direct housing assistance — 6,000

New houses — 2,800
Repaired and renovated houses — 1,200
Total completed*** — 4,000

Housing units in progress — 2,000

**Estimated total to Dec. 31, 2005; includes $8.56 million actual through Nov. 17.
***House counts through Nov. 30 plus projections to year’s end.

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 various governments, and delivered. The cites for the figures reveal that about half of the pledged moneys are for recovery and reconstruction over the next 3-5 years. Reconstruction doesn’t happen overnight.

In May, my post Tsunami: An Honest Charity featured the group Doctors Without Borders returning donations that they did not need. It also featured a list of links to various private charities’ efforts to date.

The problem with the Financial Times, with the media in general, is the expectation that the government is the solution. The dollars and hours pouring forth from private charities, mostly religious, are ignored despite the effect they are having. As a sometime libertarian, I’m not surprised by government corruption. Given 2000 plus years of written history, no one should be.

The notion that nothing is getting done, however, is false. It’s spread by politicians and those you live off the political trough. Mostly, the complaints mean that the complainer hasn’t gotten what he sees as his fair share of the graft.

And the left is getting its two cents in, too. Here’s a story from the Malaysia Star, where environmental groups are objecting to fishermen being given boats, because they might use them to go fishing. It’s their way of life, all they know, but since this group thinks fish stocks are depleted, they shouldn’t get the boats. The UN has agreed and is holding back on providing 2,400 boats it has.

As I have pointed out before, government planning or lack thereof, is also contributing to the appearance of no progress. Most of the governments in the region have plans to restrict rebuilding on the coast, and to improve the structures of those buildings that are built. In addition, you are dealing with regions where property titles and such are little known and less honored. ABC reports:

Permanent shelter has lagged in no small part because of political and legal wrangles over land allocation.

Indonesia had no coordination agency for tsunami aid until April, leaving aid groups to determine their own projects. Uncertainty over government plans – later dropped – to prevent building along the coastline as a safety measure only added to the confusion.

The Indian state of Tamil Nadu also tried to discourage rebuilding by the beach in case of another tsunami. People that rebuild within 200 meters of the high-tide mark forfeit their right to over $3,000 in government reconstruction aid, a move that has angered fishermen.

Sri Lanka has also proposed relocating affected fishing villages inland, a move that social activists say is more about acquiring land for tourist development than helping coastal communities.

“The [coastal] buffer zones are obviously designed to clear such areas for tourist development. [Otherwise] how come the tourist hotels in the zones could repair and restart work immediately?” asks Sarath Fernando, moderator for the Movement for National Land and Agricultural Reform.

The government in Colombo says it’s reviewing the buffer zone, and argues that tourism brings benefits to local communities. “I don’t think we are going to displace people for the sake of creating zones,” says Prathap Ramanujam, secretary to the Ministry of Tourism. “Our policy is to ensure that the local community in an area develops through tourism too.”

Here’s a story from New Zealand about a private effort that succeeded.

Sri Lanka Association – and Sri Lankans resident in Taranaki – had raised about $270,000. The Government – through funding agency NZAid – chipped in $180,000.

It left the association flush with cash but unsure where to spend it. Spokesman Chula Rajapakse, a Lower Hutt doctor, says there were plenty of options, but little agreement.

Apart from some immediate emergency relief, the association wanted to see the money spent on permanent homes, and by an organisation that could be held accountable by New Zealanders who had given so generously. Venamulla – chosen at random – fitted the bill nicely.

The association sent Sarvodaya all but $80,000 of the money (the rest went to Unicef). It was enough money to build about 60 homes, while Sri Lankan businessman Nihal Ranasinghe, an uncle of an association member, tapped connections in the United States and Britain for funds to rebuild the rest.

The villagers then went to work. At the local level, all Sarvodaya workers are volunteers, and 120 of the village were members. However, everyone chipped in, members or not, to rebuild their homes.

In a country where skilled labour and building materials are at a premium, due mainly to competition between aid agencies, Venamulla chose to look to itself. Virtually all the labour, and the materials for the concrete block homes with tile roofs, were sourced locally. A small amount of timber was brought in from elsewhere. The 50 square metre homes – built to a design from Sarvodaya’s head office – cost about 600,000 rupees (NZ$8000) each. Those who worked on their own homes were paid a small amount for their efforts.

The rainy season held up progress during the middle of the year, which also meant problems using local river sand for the concrete. However, it was a small bump on an otherwise smooth road for the villagers.

They had extra incentive to finish. Most were living in temporary shelters made of wood salvaged from the rubble. Many of these still stand – they will be used as kitchens – and are little more than shacks.

And finish they have. They have also – using other funds – rebuilt a primary school and Montessori preschool. The “half-damaged” houses will be rebuilt when the villagers can raise more money.

Here in the United States, in our own, very wealthy land, people are living in tents along the Gulf Coast. Governments at all levels have fought for their own shares of the billions being spent. Somehow, over 40 states were declared disaster areas as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, despite the storms never having reached most of them.

Don’t expect the governments of South Asia, many of which are corrupt or fighting internal battles against terror, to do better than we can. But, looking at the record, it is clear that progress is being made. Mostly where the government isn’t involved, but being made none the less.

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 Scout packs, to serve as aids in schools, to volunteer as firefighters and EMT’s. Bill Gates got his hands dirty from signing a check.

As much of an ass as Jimmy Carter is, he still hammers nails with Habitat for Humanity. As Jesus pointed out with the tale of the widow’s mite, it’s not chairity until you give up something.

I took three calls yesterday with the ambulance. PG is working long hours in Mississippi for little pay helping with hurricane relief. My boss tutors kids before work most days. Bill Gates wrote a check. Hope he didn’t get a blister.

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 children still faced with the dire consequences of the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed over 240,000 people. Earlier this year, British Airways donated ’1mn to the tsunami disaster relief fund. Half the donation was passed on to Unicef, and the other half was spent on supply-carrying cargo services and flights to the stricken region, the official said.

Indonesia Relief Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Head of Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR), announced that Indonesia has received $4.1 billion out of $7 billion that has been pledged to rebuild tsunami devastated areas in Aceh and Nias. Including Rp 8.3 billion from Indonesian national budget. ”In the first three months of our (BRR) works, there are $4.1 billion of fund already available to be spent for Aceh and Nias reconstruction,” said Kuntoro, after a meeting with Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla in Jakarta. The fund will be used for various project in Aceh and Nias including construction of Meulaboh port by Singapore government and Singapore Red Cross. Also construction of Ulee Lheue port by Australia government. The Ulee Lheue port will be upgraded from only ferry port to become cargo port. The fund will also finance construction of road connecting Banda Aceh and Meulaboh. US government provides $245 million, and Japanese government provides additional support of $48 million.

Reuters Alert Net Former U.S. Presidents George H.W. Bush and William Clinton named the American Refugee Committee’s (ARC) Fishing Boat Project as the first tsunami relief project to receive funding with private money raised through the Bush-Clinton Fund. The Presidents’ $1 million contribution will replace fishing boats in Thailand and provide equipment and support to fishermen, many of whom lost nearly everything in the tsunami. The former Presidents wanted to fund the project because of its economic impact and ability to spur job creation. The two former Presidents visited ARC’s Fishing Boat Project in Nam Khem, Thailand, on February 19 of this year as part of their tour of tsunami-affected areas. The Fishing Boat Project is the only tsunami relief project they visited while in Thailand.

Indonesia Relief The CHF International announced donation of $50,000 from Alanis Morissette to empower economic revitalization projects in Aceh, including repairing fishing boats and provide small seed capital to street vendors. ”We’re delighted to be partnering with Alanis Morissette in our efforts to restore the economic situation of those affected by last year’s tragic tsunamis,” said John Chromy, CHF International’s Vice President on Wednesday. ”The support of high-profile individuals like Alanis Morissette is extremely helpful for sustaining public awareness about the long-term economic recovery efforts that will be needed for years to come.” Alanis Morissette’s $50,000 donation will be channeled to a local community-based organization in Indonesia’s Aceh province, Udeb Saree Lhok Seudu, to undertake several important economic revitalization projects that will provide local community members with the resources they need to get back on their feet.

]]> http://northshorejournal.org/tsunami-donations-and-status-2/feed 0 http://northshorejournal.org/tsunami-six-months-and-building http://northshorejournal.org/tsunami-six-months-and-building#comments Thu, 07 Jul 2005 22:13:59 +0000 Chuck Simmins http://blog.simmins.org/1999/11/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.

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 List,” an online aid ledger published on his personal blog (http:/northshorejournal.org).

“I stopped updating the list when American private contributions exceeded a billion dollars,” Simmons, a 49-year-old businessman, said in a telephone interview.

“It was created to make a point, that we weren’t as stingy as some portrayed us.”

Six months after killer waves roared across the Indian Ocean, sensitivities still run high about the true generosity of rich countries, despite an unprecedented outpouring of aid in the weeks following the Dec. 26 tragedy.

Aid pledges by governments and multilateral organizations total around $6.9 billion, according to Reuters research.

Add to that at least $4.5 billion of private donations to aid organizations by individuals, companies, foundations and religious groups, and you have the biggest display of generosity after any natural disaster in history.

HOW GENEROUS REALLY?

Simmons started his “Stingy List” in January after U.N. relief coordinator Jan Egeland made comments many interpreted as accusing Washington of being miserly. At the time, the U.S. government had given $15 million plus military support costing about $6 million a day.

“Jan Egeland basically opened an incredible Pandora’s box by accusing the U.S. of being stingy,” said Joel Charny, vice president of advocacy group Refugees International.

“We then had this maniacal race to see who could be the most generous. And it got to the point where agencies and countries were just throwing money on top of money on top of money.”

For more information about this project, use the site search function on the right sidebar.

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.

News 24

International medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres is tracking down hundreds of thousands of tsunami donors worldwide and offering them their money back after it received four times as much money as it needed, a report said on Wednesday.

In Australia alone the charity sent out more than 4 000 letters telling donors it could not use their money for tsunami victims, the Sydney Morning Herald said.

It had 172 requests for refunds totalling A$93 000 (about R437 000) while about 1 700 donors specified other appeals and the rest left the matter up to the charity’s discretion.

Medecins Sans Frontieres received four times the ’20m it needed to fund its response to the December 26 disaster.

The charity’s president, Rowan Gillies, was quoted as saying it was ethically compelled to contact every donor of the surplus and offer to return it.

“We have never before had to turn down funds and we’ve never before offered people money back. It’s an administrative nightmare,” said Philippe Couturier, executive officer of the Australian branch.

As for the notion that aid is not reaching Aceh, Bull oney!

World Vision
Samaritan’s Purse
Catholic Relief Services
Mercy Corps

All of the above have info at the links about the work they are doing in Aceh. There is a very comprehensive, multi-lingual look atAceh and aid at Relief Web.

There’s a great deal being done. Is some of the aid going to graft and corruption? Of course. But this guy is so off the mark, I have to suspect he has a different agenda.

If I had even a hint that things were going dreadfully wrong, I’d have been trumpeting it from the housetops. I didn’t spend all that time keeping the Stingy List for nothing.

Another source has also been tracking the giving of Americans for tsunami relief. They asked permission to use my work early on, but never, NEVER, gave me a link or a credit. Poopie heads! Anyway, here’s what they came up with:

Center on Philanthropy:

Cash (includes organizations not publicly reporting their totals)	1,164,623,396
Value of in-kind gifts reported	116,947,716
Total cash and in-kind gifts to date	1,281,571,112
Planned fundraising (goal)	56,980,567
Total committed + planned	1,338,551,679

CHARITY	AMOUNT
American Red Cross	$460,500,000.
Americares	$40,000,000.
CARE USA	$41,300,000.
Catholic Relief Services	$150,000,000.
Doctors Without Borders USA	$20,000,000.
Lutheran World Relief	$12,400,000.
Mercy Corps	$25,800,000.
Oxfam America	$30,000,000.
Salvation Army	$10,200,000.
Samaritan’s Purse	$23,000,000.
UNICEF USA	$92,400,000.

]]> http://northshorejournal.org/tsunami-other-results-for-american-giving/feed 0 http://northshorejournal.org/tsunami-final-stingy-list-update http://northshorejournal.org/tsunami-final-stingy-list-update#comments Thu, 21 Apr 2005 04:30:59 +0000 Chuck Simmins http://blog.simmins.org/1999/11/tsunami-final-stingy-list-update/

We did it! $1,030,714,108.34

Over a billion dollars in private donations for tsunami relief. THE STINGY LIST is linked over at the left. All us stingy Americans did it. Pfui on you, Jimmy Carter.

The efforts continue. As I researched this final report, I saw many, many concerts, auctions, sales, etc. that are scheduled for the next month or so. We haven’t forgotten.

The press of real life kept me from recent updates, I’m afraid. Bill Hobbs, the blogger who named the list, asked about it the other day, and that prompted me to do the remaining research.

I can tell you with utter certainty that this amount is far short of what has actually been donated. It may be short by as much as $100 million.

I’m ending the record keeping at this point. I believe I made my point…

REMEMBER! There are lots of worthy causes in the United States and in your local community who could also use your charitable dollars. Don’t forget your neighbors this year. If you don’t have money right now, the local fire company, ambulance corps, Little League, animal shelter or Boy Scout troop could use your time.

THE STINGY LIST is very near $1 billion U.S. As of this update, it’s at $989,189,234.32. I’ll wait a week for the next update and see what happens.

The Roman Catholic share of the list is at $47,545,277.33. Green Bay had a large update, and I added Nashville.