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.
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.
