[AppyPappy]

Loans, huh?

[Michael81Dus]

Thank you, Australia, speaking on behalf of the victims of the horrible Tsunami.

[conservativecorner]

God bless the Australians for their great help in the WOT, and for their leadership in this disaster in a part of the world they call home.

[snowsislander]

That is extraordinarily generous of the Australians -- that comes to over US$38 per Australian (the CIA's World "FactBook" lists the population at 19,913,144.)

[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.