Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

tsunami aid

$10 million here. $100 million there. A story in today’s Washington Post cautions that all the news of various tsunami aid pledges by countries around the world may be a bit misleading. (“Cash Often Fails to Match Aid Pledges ” - 01/14/05)

In the three weeks since the Indian Ocean tsunami ripped up coastlines in Asia and Africa, the United Nations has credited more than 40 governments, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank with unprecedented pledges of assistance valued at nearly $4 billion.

But a closer look at those commitments shows that hundreds of millions of dollars in those pledges had already been committed to development projects in the region. And as much as half of the offers are for interest-free loans, which the United Nations traditionally does not count as humanitarian aid.

The tsunami relief effort illustrates how large pledges of aid have historically yielded far less cash than was promised for humanitarian relief and recovery efforts. And it underscores why the United Nations — which asked for nearly $1 billion to fund its tsunami relief and reconstruction efforts over the next six months — remains concerned that money may not be available to finance relief efforts, despite commitments made worldwide.

On a related note, a coworker passed on a link to a site that’s compiled a ton of before / after satellite photos of affected countries in the Indian Ocean. Some photos I’d seen before, but most of them were new to me. The sight of so many homes destroyed and whole towns washed away is … sobering, for lack of a better word.