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 News from Around the Americas | January 2005 
Survivors Organize Relief Work as Tsunami Toll Rises
As Asia's tsunami death toll soared, aid agencies warned many more people - particularly children - could die in epidemics, ushering in a somber New Year's Eve for the world.
In Sri Lanka's worst-hit area Ampara, residents ran relief efforts themselves, going round with megaphones, asking people to donate pots and pans, buckets of fresh water and sarongs.
Dutch, German and Swiss forensic teams flew to Thailand to help identify now hard-to-recognize bodies by collecting dental evidence, DNA samples, fingerprints, photographs and X-rays. People worldwide opened their hearts and wallets to give millions of dollars to help relief efforts, jamming phone lines and websites and outpacing governments in their generosity.
| Donate | Please consider these aid agencies for donations to help the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunamis. BanderasNews is not affiliated with any of these organizations, nor can we directly vouch for them.
AmeriCares
88 Hamilton Ave.
Stamford, CT 06902
800-486-4357
www.americares.org
American Friends Service Committee
1501 Cherry St.
Philadelphia, PA
215-241-7000
www.afsc.org
American Red Cross
P.O. Box 37243
Washington, DC 20013
800-HELP-NOW
www.redcross.org
Doctors Without Borders
1-888-392-0392
Go to Website
Oxfam America Asian Earthquake Fund
PO Box 1211
Albert Lea, MN 56007-1211
800-77-OXFAM
www.oxfamamerica.org
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund)
http://www.unicef.org |
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Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee said it had collected more than $39 million, less than a day after launching an appeal on behalf of 12 top British charities.
"It's quite a phenomenal response," a spokeswoman said.
Amazon.com collected $4.8 million in donations from online shoppers at its Web site.
Bush, like other world leaders facing criticism for what some say was a tardy early response to the crisis, said he was sending a team headed by his brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and Secretary of State Colin Powell to assess Asia's needs.
The United States said a pledge of $35 million was just a start, and sent an aircraft carrier group toward Sumatra and other ships including a helicopter carrier to the Bay of Bengal.
A New York Times editorial, however, denounced the U.S. pledge as a "miserly drop in the bucket." [NOTE: President Bush has since announced that he would increase emergency aid to stricken areas of Asia to $350 million, and said the United States would probably add more resources as the scope of what he called an "epic disaster" became clearer.]
The World Bank offered $250 million in relief, bringing total international aid to nearly $500 million.
The Paris Club group of creditors was to examine a debt moratorium for countries hit by the tsunami that devastated southern Asia, a source close to the Club said.
Separately, Italy called on the Group of Eight rich nations to hold a summit to discuss a joint response, but the incoming G8 chairman, Britain, said no meeting was planned.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said he would propose to the European Union that top industrial nations form bilateral "partnerships" with tsunami-hit countries.
"Our states for corresponding areas there. Our cities for their cities and our villages for their villages," Schroeder said in his New Year's address. "German schools and children, supported by their parents, could sponsor schools over there."
For more news on emergency relief visit Reuters AlertNet.org
Tomi Soetjipto and Dean Yates - Reuters |
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