I think it really depends on the type of aid. Aid after major disasters is helpful. Ordinary aid that you give to a nation every year do not buy you any good will in that nation because most don’t even know where the aid is coming from
the tsunami in Japan effected most of the country. It was a MAJOR disaster. Everyone was pretty much effected by it. The disaster in Indonesia only effected a small part of the country and most of the population in the area that US helped out were wiped out