Australia Pledges $764M in Tsunami Aid

yahoo.com ^ | Jan. 05, 2005 | AP

[Fruit of the Spirit]

If the truth be known, the Israelis were the first to assist in the tsunami disaster.

[dead]

They are doing great work. Howard is a great leader.

[MEG33]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1314419/posts
"Indonesia has asked Australia to come into the heart of its Government and help lead the reconstruction of its tsunami-stricken regions, a diplomatic coup for the Prime Minister, John Howard, but a setback for the United Nations. "..snip

Seems the UN in its five star hotel accomodations , 24hour room service, requirements will not be "in charge"..

Do read on down the diplomadic link and see the true UN face.

http://diplomadic.blogspot.com/

[snowsislander]

Unless a massive reserve of oil is found beneath them, Indonesia will not be paying back these "loans" anytime soon, or ever.

Indonesia does have oil; the CIA World "FactBook" lists it at 7.083 billion barrels, with a daily production of 1.451 million barrels today. As to how much effect the disaster will have on production, the source that I checked thought it would be large unaffected, but I didn't cross-check that assertion.

[MEG33]

They just cut the legs off the UN "coordination"..grin.

[MEG33]

"With 5 percent of ExxonMobil'sprofits coming from the NE shore (far less damaged) and 50 percent of the oil's exports going through the straits to the N, the fate of Banda Aceh is too important to our national security to quibble with the U.N., an organization subordinate to the United States as well as Australia, India and especially Japan, very dependent on that stream of oil... and the oil must flow.
The Blue Beanies can play games but Banda Aceh's destruction has given us an opportunity and victory in the War on Terror... The U.N. can suck a bug."

From another thread

[MEG33]

Thank you..

[MEG33]

http://www.belgraviadispatch.com/
We are accustomed...

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

the only disaster the UN is working on is its own credibility, now that its covers have been jerked from them and their cohorts......

In this matter, the UN is in its rightful place as a sideshow, LOL. Bush gave them fair warning about becoming irrelevant......now its time for them to pay the Piper.

[MEG33]

I imagine we will help..we always do.

[dead]

Learn something new everyday. Thanks for the info!

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

I'll personally donate $1.2 billion. Payable in 250 years.

[Law is not justice but process]

According to the CIA World Fact Book, the per capita GNDP of Indonesia is $3200. That averages over the whole country, which includes such relatively prosperous areas as Jakarta, tourist-rich Bali, and oil-rich areas of Borneo. I understand Banda Aceh is one of the poorer provinces of the nation. I would suspect the average yearly income of all the people affected in that area is on the order of $1000 to $1500 per year, tops.

I read somewhere else that something of the order of 5 million people live in the areas directly affected by the tsunami. I think this includes Indonesia, Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka.

I would estimate that the pledges for aid from the West exceed $2 billion at this point and are well on their way to $5 billion. I think we will probably be giving something like $1000 per head for those affected, or something like $25,000 per head for those killed.

I admit I am a skeptic on foreign aid. As such, I doubt much of the money we give out will ever end up benefiting those directly affected by the tsunami. The helicopters and emergency aid will (they will aid those starving in the aftermath), but the money that comes over the next year or so will be headed off in Jakarta, Bangkok, Columbo, and New Delhi. It will go to aid national coffers or the personal accounts of corrupt local officials. We would be better off to go to the affected areas and hand out cash (say $500 or $1000 for a lost house, $10,000 to $15,000 for a family member killed) than we would giving it to governments. The individuals could use it to rebuild their own lives or use it to move to the mountains where tsunamis will no longer plague them. Sure, some recipients would waste it and some would lie to get more than their fair share, but the total waste would be no greater than if the governments got it and the benefit to those directly affected would be greater.

[numberonepal]

I'm pledging a $1,000,000,000,000,000. Beat that you stingy panty waists.

[Martinez]

Norway is up to ~230 million USD, after promising 180 m. USD from their oil trust it seems. Should be all aid, no loan as it seems. Quite good for a country with only 4,5 million citizens. But no other country can match the US in terms of "physical" aid - manpower, logistics and so on..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitarian_response_to_the_2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake#List_of_major_donors

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitarian_response_to_the_2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake#Amounts_as_.25_of_GDP_vs.US

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitarian_response_to_the_2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake#Americas