Of course US is stingy. You can't scam billions of dollars if the US only pays 15 million. I bet you there are a lot of diplorupt (diplomat that's corrupt) at UN that are salivating over the prospect of scamming all of the donation for the disaster relief. That's probably why UN said that the cost of recovery is in the billions, eventhough none from UN has set a foot in any of the disaster areas. What a corrupt bunch of leaches!!!
I see damage, but what I see damaged doesn't look like "billions" in that part of the world to my uneducated eye.
You can't place a dollar value on the lives lost and many of those were probably tourists. What a horrible feeling to be swimming and all of a sudden pulled out toward the coral reefs that surround the islands. Must have felt like some major undertow!