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 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.”
By Tim Large
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