Friday, December 31, 2004

Tsunami Relief Information

Hi, Pete --

Thanks for forwarding the MoveOn alert on Tsunami relief. As you know, the need is critical, and there are many groups and people collecting money to help people in Aceh, Sri Lanka and other places devastated by the earthquake and tidal wave. However, much of the money collected in these ways -- including what our government may give, will probably not be used efficiently or reach those most affected.

Many of the large agencies work through governments, and in both Aceh (Indonesia) and Sri Lanka there are civil wars where the majority of people in the worst-affected areas (Acehnese and Tamil) are considered "enemies" by their national governments. Much aid channeled through big relief organizations will not get to the people who need it most.

MoveOn is recommending aid through Oxfam, which is one of the best of the international relief NGOs. But I think it's even better to give donations to local organizations in close contact with the devastated communities.

For Aceh, the East Timor Action Network is sending money directly to Acehnese grassroots humanitarian organizations.

http://www.etan.org . ETAN also has an action alert http://www.etan.org/action/action2/23alert.htm
to get Congress to urge the U.S. and Indonesian administrations to do better.

For Sri Lanka, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization http://www.trousa.org/ is performing a similar function.

I agree wholeheartedly that we need to push our government to do more, both for the immediate emergency and for the future. I just sent the following letter to the NY Times in response to today's editorial "Are We Stingy? Yes" which you can read at: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/opinion/30thu2.html

-- Charlie
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To the Editor:

U.S. stinginess in humanitarian aid (editorial, December 30) is beyond comprehension. President Bush’s enlarged promise of $35 million represents 94 seconds of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the output of our economy. In comparison, East Timor, the newest and poorest country in Asia, is donating one hour and 25 minutes of its GDP for tsunami victims.

The President complains that UN officials ignore U.S. generosity, citing our foreign aid program. Last year, I was in East Timor working with the local watchdog organization La’o Hamutuk. A U.S. government team visited to evaluate the U.S. aid program, and asked me how effective it was. I told them that since 70% of U.S. aid buys goods and services from the U.S., it did little to help East Timor rebuild its economy after Indonesia’s devastating 1999 withdrawal. The interviewer’s response: “only 70%? Congress wants it to be 90%.”

Charles Scheiner
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If you want to confirm my calculations, they're based on a U.S. GDP of $11.8 trillion, as reported by the government for the current quarter at http://www.bea.gov/bea/dn/gdplev.xls .

East Timor's government has pledged $50,000 to the aid effort -- see http://tinyurl.com/6dn25

According to the World Bank, East Timor's GDP in 2003 (the latest figure available) was $310 million -- see
http://tinyurl.com/3lh26
. It has probably decreased since then.
***********************************************************
Charles Scheiner
P.O. Box 1182, White Plains, NY 10602 USA
Tel. +1-914-831-1098 or +1-914-473-3185 (mobile)
email: cscheiner@igc.org