Free Republic

Wednesday 09 March 2005, 3:05 Makka Time, 0:05 GMT About 300,000 people were killed by the 26 December tsunami Lawsuits against Thailand, US weather forecasters and a luxury resort over the South Asian tsunami disaster are fuelling calls for greater curbs on what critics say are frivolous cases brought by lawyers out to make a quick buck. The latest lawsuit suggests the Thai government and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which operates a Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii, should have issued warnings. It also said the Sofitel Magic Lagoon Resort, located at Khao Lak Beach in Phuket and...

Scientist foresaw Sumatran quake Research showed area was ripe for temblor By Kimm Groshong , Staff WriterArticle Published: Sunday, March 06, 2005 - 8:25:08 PM PST PASADENA -- When the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and resultant tsunami devastated Sumatra and much of the Bay of Bengal on Dec. 26, Kerry Sieh's premonition became a nightmarish reality. The Caltech geology professor had studied the history of giant earthquakes just south of the epicenter for about a decade and knew full well the damage such a major quake in that part of the world could inflict. He had tried to get the word out...

The December 26 tsunami that took over 275,000 lives may have been an act of God, but more than 60 European survivors of the deadly wave have filed suit in New York district court to determine if Thai authorities, U.S. forecasters and a French hotel chain were negligent. U.S. attorney Edward Fagan, who has successfully fought against Swiss banks on behalf of Holocaust victims, is joined by two other attorneys representing plaintiffs from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and France, reported Agence France-Presse. Named in the suit are the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its Hawaii-based Tsunami...

SEVERAL dozen European victims of Asia's tsunami disaster have filed a lawsuit demanding that Thai authorities, US forecasters, and a French hotel chain prove that they reacted adequately. In what is believed to be the first tsunami claim worldwide, US lawyer Edward Fagan and two other lawyers have filed the suit with a New York district court on behalf of more than 60 plaintiffs from Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The suit was filed against the Thai government, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its Tsunami Warning Centre, and the French hotel group Sofitel, said...

Toxic waste sickening Somalia04/03/2005 20:12  - (SA)   Related Articles Toxic waste on Somali beaches    Nairobi - Very toxic waste washed on to Somali's coastline by last December's tsumani have spawned diseases bearing symptoms of radioactive exposure in villagers along the shorelines of the shattered African nation, UN Environment Programme said on Friday. Citing initial reports, Unep spokesperson Nick Nuttall told AFP that "there are indications that harzardous waste, radioactive waste, chemical waste and other substances, (in containers) which have been dumped on the Somali coastline, were damaged by the tsunami". United Nations officials said the deadly waves, which originated off...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Conservationists want to turn a popular Malaysian beach hit by the tsunami into a protected nesting area for endangered sea turtles, which hatched there for the first time in over a decade - probably because of a drop-off in tourists after the disaster. More than 30 baby Olive Ridley turtles were found Feb. 16 crawling on Tanjung Bungah beach, a popular stretch of resorts and seaside condominiums on northwestern Penang island, said Mashhor Mansor, a professor of biological sciences in the Malaysian University of Science. ``Marine turtles are very sensitive to human disturbances, so we...

Bro. Paul Ciniraj, Salem Voice, Devalokam (P.O), Kottayam, Kerala-686038, INDIA. Please visit the relief page of the Baseelia Foundation to view tsunami relief services. http://www.geocities.com/baseeliafoundation 28 CHILDREN SAVED FROM THE TSUNAMI KILLER WAVES I commanded the waves to stop in Jesus' name and they did. It was a miracle. NAVALADY, Sri Lanka -- Two hundred yards away from the beach, in the orphanage he had built, Dayalan Sanders lounged in his bed early Sunday morning. He was thinking, he said, about the sermon he was due to deliver in the chapel in half an hour. A few yards away, most...

John and Jackie Knill pose at their Thailand resort in Khao Lak on Dec. 12, 2004, taken the couple's digital camera, in this family handout photo. The bodies of the two tsunami victims have been found in Thailand, along with their final photos. (AP PHOTO/ Knill Family) First of six photos in a sequence showing the beach at Khao Lak, Thailand, on Dec.26, 2004. The photos which show the water first receding, then forming into the first wave that crashed ashore, were found on the digital camera card of a North Vancouver couple, when their bodies were identified recently. (AP...

John and Jackie Knill pose at their Thailand resort in Khao Lak on Dec. 12, 2004, taken the couple's digital camera, in this family handout photo. The bodies of the two tsunami victims have been found in Thailand, along with their final photos. (AP PHOTO/ Knill Family) First of six photos in a sequence showing the beach at Khao Lak, Thailand, on Dec.26, 2004. The photos which show the water first receding, then forming into the first wave that crashed ashore, were found on the digital camera card of a North Vancouver couple, when their bodies were identified recently. (AP...

With Afghanistan and Iraq already lost, the Wall Street bankers were all desperately looking for other ways to control our world, when suddenly and very conveniently, the Sumatran Trench exploded.

VANCOUVER -- Photographs from the camera of a Canadian couple killed in Asia's tsunami include their final shots of a huge wave as it rushed toward them at their beach resort in Thailand. John and Jackie Knill of North Vancouver, frequent visitors to the popular Thai resort, Khao Lak, were apparently on the beach when the tsunami hit Dec. 26. The couple disappeared and relatives say they were notified about a week ago that the identities of their remains had been confirmed. Searchers later also recovered the couple's destroyed digital camera but were able to print photos from its memory...

Tremors of Doubt What kind of God would allow a deadly tsunami? BY DAVID B. HART Friday, December 31, 2004 12:01 a.m. EST On Nov. 1, 1755, a great earthquake struck offshore of Lisbon. In that city alone, some 60,000 perished, first from the tremors, then from the massive tsunami that arrived half an hour later. Fires consumed much of what remained of the city. The tidal waves spread death along the coasts of Iberia and North Africa. Voltaire's "Poëme sur le désastre de Lisbonne" of the following year was an exquisitely savage--though sober--assault upon the theodicies prevalent in his...

The world's biggest grouping of Muslim countries has pledged $145 million for Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province, to be spent largely on children orphaned by the 26 December disaster, says a report. The money will finance various projects over a four to five-year period, chair of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was quoted as saying on Sunday by the New Straits Times. The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), along with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), has already identified five projects to fund, including a home for orphans in Aceh. Work to build the shelter will...

BAN NAMKHEM, Thailand (Reuters) - Former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush began a tour of Asia's tsunami killing fields on Saturday in a devastated Thai fishing village which offered tears and hope. "It's very moving," Bush said of a drawing of the giant wave hitting the village presented to the presidential pair by a young girl whose mother was among the estimated 1,500-2,000 people killed in Ban Namkhem. "I'll never forget this," he said. Both were almost in tears when talking to reporters about the children who lost their parents in the Dec. 26 disaster. The girl, wearing...

Tsunami victims to sue French hotel chain Accor, Thai govt, US authorities VIENNA (AFX) - A group of Austrian and German victims of the Asian tsunami disaster are to file a lawsuit demanding that Thailand, French hotel chain Accor (Paris: FR0000120404 - news) and US forecasters prove they reacted adequately to the disaster, their lawyers said. The suit, naming Accor and the US-run tsunami early warning system in the Pacific as well as Thai authorities, will be filed in a New York district court this week, the lawyers said in Vienna.

Tsunami Tyranny On February 2nd, 2005 US President George W. Bush said in his State Of the Union Address: The only force powerful enough to stop the rise of tyranny and terror, and replace hatred with hope, is the force of human freedom. (1) The attack on freedom in our world has reaffirmed our confidence in freedom's power to change the world. We are all part of a great venture: To extend the promise of freedom in our country, to renew the values that sustain our liberty, and to spread the peace that freedom brings. (2) How can we define...

Christian minister calls disaster 'divine visitation' on Lord's Day A Christian minister claims the tsunami of Sunday, Dec. 26, killing at least 160,000 people, was direct result of "pleasure seekers" breaking God's Sabbath. In the February issue of his church magazine, Rev. John MacLeod of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland writes: "Possibly ... no event since Noah's flood has caused such loss of life by drowning as the recent Asian tsunami. That so many of our fellow creatures should have perished in so short a time, and in so awful a fashion, was a divine visitation that ought to...

The relics have been buried under the sand for centuries. The deadly tsunami could have uncovered the remains of an ancient port city off the coast in southern India. Archaeologists say they have discovered some stone remains from the coast close to India's famous beachfront Mahabalipuram temple in Tamil Nadu state following the 26 December tsunami. They believe that the "structures" could be the remains of an ancient and once-flourishing port city in the area housing the famous 1200-year-old rock-hewn temple. Three pieces of remains, which include a granite lion, were found buried in the sand after the coastline receded...

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) - The first images of the seabed that was rocked by the earthquake that triggered Asia's catastrophic tsunami revealed huge ruptures spanning several miles along the Indian Ocean's floor. The United States, meanwhile, said it was preparing to more than double its pledge for tsunami relief to $950 million. The images of the seabed were from a British naval ship collecting data off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island that could be used to help governments develop a tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean region. "There are features which we would think are something...

A woman who said she survived on wild fruits for 45 days after tsunami waves ravaged the Andaman Islands has been rescued, police said. The 18-year-old woman was rescued on Wednesday from Pillopanja, one of the southernmost islands of the archipelago ravaged by the towering waves on December 26, the police chief of nearby Campbell Bay island said. He identified the woman only as Jessy and said her husband and her one-year-old child were missing, presumed dead. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation estimates around 40,000 pregnant women were left homeless following the devastating tsunamis around the Indian Ocean, and have...

US slams some Muslims for paltry tsunami aid Wolfowitz fingers those who talk big about helping yet deliver very little WASHINGTON - PARTS of the Islamic world are big on talking about jihad but have fallen short in aiding Muslim victims of the South Asian tsunami, says US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. Europe's military response could have been greater too, he told a Senate hearing on the international response to the Dec 26 earthquake and flooding that killed about 300,000 people. 'There's been very little generosity so far from parts of the Muslim world that are big on talking...

UK scientists have released images of the ocean floor near the epicentre of December's giant Asian earthquake. They were obtained by the Royal Navy's hydrographic survey ship HMS Scott. The three-dimensional pictures detail the deformed seabed 150km (94 miles) off the Sumatran coast, and reveal huge underwater landslides. Researchers involved in the project believe the images may help in the design of the tsunami early warning system to be built in the region. "There are features which we would think are something like the Grand Canyon would look," Tim Henstock, one of the scientists on board HMS Scott, told BBC...

The deadly tsunami could have uncovered the remains of an ancient port city off the coast in southern India. Archaeologists say they have discovered some stone remains from the coast close to India's famous beachfront Mahabalipuram temple in Tamil Nadu state following the 26 December tsunami. They believe that the "structures" could be the remains of an ancient and once-flourishing port city in the area housing the famous 1200-year-old rock-hewn temple. Three pieces of remains, which include a granite lion, were found buried in the sand after the coastline receded in the area after the tsunami struck. Undersea remains "They...

I imagine more than a few people will never forgive God for the recent Tsunami. Today I went on Google and typed in, "Why did God allow the tsunami to happen?" The search engine found 108,000 web entries on the subject. Yeah, people are wondering. Just like they wondered why God did nothing to stop the Holocast. Before that, the First World War. Many turned away from God after each of these tragedies. And it's not surprising. When criminals in our society commit gross crimes of willful murder, we execute them. Many people, putting two and two together, figure an...

Tsunami toll now nearly 300,000 February 2, 2005 - 5:29PM The number of people presumed dead in December's earthquake and tsunami rose to more than 290,000 today, with Indonesian authorities announcing a further increase in the number of dead. Indonesia was hardest-hit by the December 26 quake and tsunamis, with a total 237,071 people listed as dead or missing, the health ministry said. A health ministry official said the 127,774 people listed as missing but who almost certainly perished would only be considered dead after one year. Thailand's toll remained at 5,393 confirmed dead. A further 3,071 people were listed...

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) has selected former President Clinton (news - web sites) to be the U.N. point man for tsunami reconstruction and ensure that the world doesn't forget the immense needs of the countries devastated by the Dec. 26 disaster, a well-informed U.N. diplomat said Tuesday. U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard refused to confirm the appointment but said "a statement will be released on the subject by my office in the next few hours." The U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the appointment of Clinton as Annan's top envoy for the rehabilitation...

<p>Indonesian Muslims aren't really making a big deal one way or the other about the tsunami relief offered them. What's noticeable is what's *not* been said.</p> <p>For example, soon after the US pledged its $350 million and a few days after the carrier Abe Lincoln was flying balls to the wall missions, a taxi driver struck up a conversation with my wife. I wasn't there. Jeane reported that after the usual small talk about the grave situation in Aceh province, where it happened, the driver mentioned something about the USA not giving much money until after the USA had been called out on their "small" initial pledge. This was the theme of that Scandinavian UN employee who said we were "stingy". Remember, the driver couldn't have known Jeane's husband was a Westerner, let alone an American.</p>

ABOARD JEANNE D'ARC (AP) - The naval ship's pantry is stocked with wines, baguettes and pate, and its casual dress code is shorts and sandals. There's even an artist - a painter to keep an illustrated record of the trip. With a panache all its own, France's military is delivering aid to tsunami-battered Indonesia - and showing how a small force can make a difference. A month after killer waves struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the French are part of an international relief operation that includes forces from more than a dozen nations, including Japan, Russia and Switzerland. The...

US Navy officer attacks 'travelling circus of aid workers' for impeding the tsunami relief effort in Indonesia By Philip Sherwell in Washington and Inigo Gilmore in Banda Aceh (Filed: 30/01/2005) A US Navy officer serving on the Abraham Lincoln, the aircraft carrier at the heart of the Indonesia tsunami relief effort, has attacked United Nations officials, aid workers and the media for impeding flights to help the survivors. Criticising their behaviour and demands, the officer declared: "My warship has been transformed into a floating hotel for a bunch of trifling do-gooders." The relief effort has been a 'frustrating and needlessly...

It has been three weeks since my ship, the USS Abraham Lincoln, arrived off the Sumatran coast to aid the hundreds of thousands of victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami that ravaged their coastline. I’d like to say that this has been a rewarding experience for us, but it has not: Instead, it has been a frustrating and needlessly dangerous exercise made even more difficult by the Indonesian government and a traveling circus of so-called aid workers who have invaded our spaces. What really irritated me was a scene I witnessed in the Lincoln’s wardroom a few days ago. I...

Why is God angry? Acehnese speak up Saturday, January 22, 2005 The Jakarta Post, Banda AcehThe devastating earthquake and tsunamis that killed over 166,000 people and displaced another half a million in Aceh have not shaken the faith of the people, who are known for their strong devotion to Islam.Most do not ask why God picked Aceh upon which to unleash His wrath. They agree that God the omnipotent was angry, but they lay the blame elsewhere -- some on themselves. Nearly four weeks after the catastrophe, most Acehnese have had plenty of time to contemplate and reflect on...

Arrest mars Aceh aid effort By Mark Forbes in Banda Aceh and Matthew Moore in Jakarta January 28, 2005 The head of an anti-corruption watchdog who last week accused Indonesian officials of inflating refugee numbers to boost aid payments has been arrested for allegedly diverting large quantities of aid. In a furore that threatens to undermine faith in the $10 billion relief effort, Farid Faqih, chairman of Government Watch and a leading United Nations contractor in Aceh, was in police custody yesterday after being apprehended by Indonesian air force officers. Last night the United Nations said it was conducting its...

From those wonderful folks who brought you the Iraqi oil-for-food corruption scandal, we have United Nations-coordinated Tsunami disaster relief. And what a relief that will be. Shortly after the tsunami struck, two things happened. First, the United States went into action. Hundreds of thousands of tsunami survivors were -- and are still -- threatened by disease, thirst and starvation. President Bush directed all branches of the US military to deliver on-scene, as soon as possible, all available assets capable of providing assistance and relief. When it comes to providing immediate, tangible aid -- emergency medical treatment and water purification facilities...

A CANADIAN Islamic group is vowing to prevent the adoption by Christian families of Muslim children orphaned in the tsunami disaster. "Canadian Muslims will not allow that the custody of Muslim orphan children to be given to Christian families or any non-Muslim families," reads a release issued yesterday by the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada. The release goes on to say Christian missionaries are kidnapping Muslim children in Indonesia. "It is now proven that the Christian missionaries do not help people on humanitarian grounds," the release states. "They help people in order to exploit their needs and convert them to...

Tsunami-Battered Sumatra Ripe for More Disasters John Roach for National Geographic News January 7, 2005 The force of the magnitude 9 earthquake that struck northern Sumatra on December 26, 2004, may have caught much of the world by surprise. But scientists say the region has a violent geologic past and is ripe for more cataclysmic earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in the millennia to come. The Indonesian island sits in an area of the Indian Ocean where several large chunks of Earth's crust, known as tectonic plates, collide. Tectonic plates can slip past, beneath, and over the top of each other....

Along with the challenges facing Indonesia after the December 26 tsunami, Christians in Indonesia are continuing to be confronted with difficulties in this predominantly Muslim nation. According to VOM sources in Indonesia, three new churches have been threatened with closure when the head of the North Grogol community where they are located accused the churches of disturbing the community, as well as meeting illegally in business buildings. The three churches, Abraham Camp Church (GKA), Bellezza Indonesia Bethel Church (GBI) and GKRI Karmel, confirmed that the meeting halls could be used for business or other purposes, including religious meetings. The pastor...

DefenseWatch "The Voice of the Grunt" 01-20-2005 Guest Column: No Relief in Sight for the Lincoln By Ed Stanton  It has been three weeks since my ship, the USS Abraham Lincoln, arrived off the Sumatran coast to aid the hundreds of thousands of victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami that ravaged their coastline. I’d like to say that this has been a rewarding experience for us, but it has not: Instead, it has been a frustrating and needlessly dangerous exercise made even more difficult by the Indonesian government and a traveling circus of so-called aid workers who have invaded our spaces. What really irritated...

Diego Garcia was not affected by the Andaman Tsunami of 26 December 2004. It is located south of the tip of India, well with in range of what the tsunami, with a max elevation of 22 and an average elevation of only 4 feet. Civilians monitoring shortwave radio reported on rec.radio.shortwave that a female operator, in answer to a query from an aircraft after giving weather information, reported no ill effects from the earthquake.

Guest Column: No Relief in Sight for the Lincoln By Ed Stanton It has been three weeks since my ship, the USS Abraham Lincoln, arrived off the Sumatran coast to aid the hundreds of thousands of victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami that ravaged their coastline. I’d like to say that this has been a rewarding experience for us, but it has not: Instead, it has been a frustrating and needlessly dangerous exercise made even more difficult by the Indonesian government and a traveling circus of so-called aid workers who have invaded our spaces. What really irritated me was a...

-snip- My warship had been transformed into a floating hotel for a bunch of trifling do-gooders overnight. As I went through the breakfast line, I overheard one of the U.N. strap-hangers, a longhaired guy with a beard, make a sarcastic comment to one of our food servers. He said something along the lines of “Nice china, really makes me feel special,” in reference to the fact that we were eating off of paper plates that day. It was all I could do to keep from jerking him off his feet and choking him, because I knew that the reason we...

050119-N-9951E-067 Alue Bilie, Sumatra, Indonesia (Jan. 19, 2005) - Young girls salute in their best form for a photo taken at one of the camps located in the town of Alue Bilie, Aceh, for civilians displaced by the Dec. 26 tsunami. Teams from the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO), currently aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), are conducting surveys in the region of Aceh, Sumatra to determine the needs of the victims of the tsunami that struck South East Asia. The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (CSG) is currently operating in the Indian Ocean off the...

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - A senior Islamic leader warned foreign relief workers Friday of a serious backlash from Muslims if they bring Christian proselytizing to tsunami-struck Sumatra along with humanitarian help. Masked health workers, meanwhile, fanned out spraying insecticide to kill mosquitos and prevent malaria from breaking out in Aceh province's refugee camps, where poor sanitation and contaminated water pose a health risk to tens of thousands of survivors. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) said he would name a special envoy next week to coordinate relief and reconstruction in the 11 countries hit by last month's earthquake...

Daytime is now 2.68 microseconds shorter because of last month's tsunami. The massive force unleashed by an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia altered the shape of Earth in a number of minute yet significant ways, NASA scientists have determined. In data released this week, NASA determined that the Dec. 26 earthquake moved the North Pole, which constantly jiggles slightly, 2.5 centimeters--about an inch--in an eastward shift that is part of a long-term seismic shift. Earth also became slightly more round, as the planet's oblateness, the quality of being flattish on top and bulging at the equator, decreased by a...

  Muslims and the tsunamiMona Charen  January 14, 2005 | printer friendly version Print | email to a friend Send Prince Felix Schwartenberg of Austria was asked in 1848 how his country would respond to Russia's help putting down a Hungarian insurrection. "Austria," he replied, "will astound the world with the magnitude of her ingratitude." Well stand aside, Prince, because Indonesia can now assume first place in the pantheon of ingrates. The world's most populous Muslim nation, horribly battered by the tsunami, announced that it wished to see American and other foreign troops who are providing disaster relief out by March...

WASHINGTON - President Bush has a message for the Indonesian big who said U.S. troops delivering tsunami relief should leave sooner rather than later: Tell it to the victims. "You know, there's a lot of talk about how some in the world don't appreciate America," Bush said after a Pentagon briefing yesterday on tsunami aid efforts and the terror war. "Well, I can assure you that those who have been helped by our military appreciate America," Bush emphasized. Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla caused the flap when he said of U.S military assistance: "Three months are enough. In fact, the...

The boy about 2 years, from Khoa Lak is missing his parents. Nobody knows what country he comes from.The girl IS AT THE PHUKET HOSPITAL. SHE DOES NOT REMEMBER ANYTHING.

THE United Nations today appealed to Indonesia to lift its March deadline on foreign military relief operations in Aceh province but said a second wave of deaths from disease in tsunami-hit nations had probably been averted. More than 100,000 of the estimated 163,000 killed by last month's tsunami were in Aceh. Half a million people in the province are homeless and some 2000 to 3000 bodies wash ashore each day, Jan Egeland, the UN emergency relief co-ordinator, told a news conference. The Indonesian government is edgy about a foreign presence in areas where separatists have fought the army for three...

January 13, 2005 DID GOD DO IT? Patrick Rooney It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. --Luke 17:2 The great majority of the talk I have heard since the great tsunami of 2004 may have missed the most important point of all. Immediately after this cataclysmic event, we were subjected to many questions, such as which countries were being cheap in their relief support, or was the corrupt United Nations fit to take...

The Indonesian government yesterday showed its appreciation to U.S. soldiers who have been risking their lives helping tsunami victims by ordering them to get out of the country by the end of March. "Three months are enough," Vice President Jusuf Kalla told the official Antara news agency. "In fact, the sooner [they leave] the better." Kalla's government also forced the Abraham Lincoln, from which Navy pilots have flown dozens of food supply missions to the hard-hit Aceh Province, to steam out of Indonesian waters because they refused to let U.S. pilots fly training missions in their air space. The...

In the aftermath of the South Asian tsunami, much criticism, most of it extraordinarily shrill, was directed at the United States and other developed nations for alleged lack of generosity in donating to relief for the victims. A hitherto-obscure Norwegian functionary of the United Nations, Jan Egelund, who bears the resounding titles of UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Coordinator of Emergency Relief, made himself (in)famous within days of the disaster by commenting, "We were more generous when we were less rich, many of the rich countries… And it is beyond me, why are we so stingy." Of course,...