£15M for 5th worst Natural disaster a joke?

[TiG]

As with all my question time posts, I may not believe all the points I make here, but with the natural disaster now looking at over one hundred thousand dead. I was shocked to hear how little aid we are giving over to help fix this major problem.

Why do I raise this point, well I for one is interested in what our Tax money gets spent on in this country, and the benefit it brings back from its investment.

Some might wonder how I believe spending money saving lives in the 3rd world from a natural disaster is an investment. I would first argue that many of us have NO concept of and will likely never have to deal with a Natural disaster and cannot comprehend how this could affect and mould peoples lives.

For many that survive this, it will be a life changing event with the way they are treated now by the western world being a key indicator in how the may lead the rest of their lives.

Picture this, 2 years down the line after the western world, (UK, US and ALL europe and Japan) spending very little effort in helping out with this disaster, the Indonesian authorities see a huge increase in terrorism, Why?, Well the propegada reads as follows...

UK spends £15million on saving us from natural disaster, but spent well over £2billion getting to Iraq's Oil.

Justification for turning to terrorism?, no of course it isn't, but if you've lost half your family that day in those terrible waves, and then lost 2 others of your family due to starvation or disease that could have come had we acted sooner with more aid and immediate intervention then could it have been avoided?....

So maybe our £15million is a good token jesture... Should it be more, Damn right it should, this has decimated many nations, and we should be up front doing our damnest to help restore water supplies, food and shelter to these countries.

In my perfect world its got a better return on investment that wars will ever have...

TiG

[coco]

well said TiG

[nichomach]

The £15m is an INITIAL payment; that'll help with the immediate problems of medical treatment, food and clean water. That £15m translates to around $29m; it's worth noting that the US Government has pledged $35m, and that the UK is thus far the second largest donor. These payments are to help the first phase of the relief effort, according to Hilary Benn, the International Development Secretary. In addition, in the last 24 hours UK charities have received a further £5m in donations. I'd further note that the US, Australia, Japan and India have formed a coalition to lead the disaster relief efforts, on the basis that they are the geographically closest major powers; they'll work in partnership with the UN and voluntary organizations.

UK effort

US Effort

edit: It is worth noting here also that the EU has pledged $44m (in addition to donations from individual countries), Japan has pledged $30m and Canada $33m.

BBC Linkage

Money is coming through, but please have a look at Az's post:

Aid agencies links

It's estimated that the bill could run to over £5bn, so every little helps.

[stytagm]

Read in the Metro today that Because the Public in the UK had donated £25 million the government has increased its donation to £50 million, which is a bit more like it.

(btw, KEEP DONATING PEEPS - Call 0870 60 60 900 NOW, it's Pay Day today for many of us, what will £100 mean to you? Not much really, but it'll make a big difference to them)

[Rave]

...or donate online, since 0870 numbers cost something like 8-10p a minute.

www.dec.org.uk

Rich :¬)

[stytagm]

Good point, And don't forget to let them reclaim your tax if you pay it in the UK, they get 25% (or thereabouts) more dosh from nice Mr Brown (hehe) and it doesn't cost you a penny extra.

[joshwa]

pledges so far:

World Bank: $250m
UK: $96m
Sweden: $75m
Spain: $68m
China: $60m
France: $56m
EU $44m
Netherlands: $36m
US: $35m
Canada: $33m
Japan: $30m
Australia: $27m
Switzerland: $23m
Norway: $16.6m
Denmark: $15.6m
Saudi Arabia: $10m
Taiwan: $5.1m
Finland: $3.4m
Kuwait: $2.1m
UAE: $2m

from here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/4136781.stm

[Ravens Nest]

Nice to now the UK have donated the most , but also not nice to know to if you get what i mean..

Well i've donated £50 myself and stopped gordon brown taking the tax in the process.

[Allen]

USA pledge $350m, making the total now $1.2bn.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/4138763.stm

Thing is, it's all well and good donating the money, but most of the aid can't get through!

[Allen]

In addition, with the millions that footballers earn, I think the following is an absolute JOKE!

The English Premiership's 20 football clubs have donated £1m to the quake fund, with Birmingham City striker Dwight Yorke calling for all the top division's stars to give a week's wages to the relief effort.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4136545.stm

[Robotochan]

I wonder if we will still be called Western Capitalist Infidels...

anyway aparently £100 buys the resources for 2 houses over there so £15m is worth a lot more to them than to us. I wouldn't say that the initial £15 million was anywhere near a joke, at least we are helping, look at the list of countries, how many are in that list compared to the world?

[yamangman]

That's not the full list, Mozambique donated $100,000, which is probably the poorest country on the planet.

[BroadbandPlacey]

"UAE: $2m"

thats a joke, there one of the richest countries per head of population in the world

i'm glad to see the moneys pouring in... and hopefully this hand of friendship from all over the western world will help ease the terrorist situation in that area, indonesia mainly

[Kumagoro]

interesting to see that not many muslim countries donating even though indonesia has the largest muslim population in the world....

[Tarffie]

Linkin Park donated $100000 apparantly

[RVF500]

It seems that the Saudis etc. are far more interested in squeezing every last cent out of the western world in terms of oil revenues than they are in using some of their vast wealth to help their fellow muslims in the worst hit areas in Indonesia. Anyway. As per the west will dig into it's personal pockets and donate considerable amounts to help. I just wonder how much of it will actually reach the people it is initially aimed at.