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30 December 2004.

New York Times, December 30, 2004

EDITORIAL

Are We Stingy? Yes

President Bush finally roused himself yesterday from his vacation in Crawford, Tex., to telephone his sympathy to the leaders of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, and to speak publicly about the devastation of Sunday's tsunamis in Asia. He also hurried to put as much distance as possible between himself and America's initial measly aid offer of $15 million, and he took issue with an earlier statement by the United Nations' emergency relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, who had called the overall aid efforts by rich Western nations "stingy." "The person who made that statement was very misguided and ill informed," the president said.

We beg to differ. Mr. Egeland was right on target. We hope Secretary of State Colin Powell was privately embarrassed when, two days into a catastrophic disaster that hit 12 of the world's poorer countries and will cost billions of dollars to meliorate, he held a press conference to say that America, the world's richest nation, would contribute $15 million. That's less than half of what Republicans plan to spend on the Bush inaugural festivities.

The American aid figure for the current disaster is now $35 million, and we applaud Mr. Bush's turnaround. But $35 million remains a miserly drop in the bucket, and is in keeping with the pitiful amount of the United States budget that we allocate for nonmilitary foreign aid. According to a poll, most Americans believe the United States spends 24 percent of its budget on aid to poor countries; it actually spends well under a quarter of 1 percent.

Bush administration officials help create that perception gap. Fuming at the charge of stinginess, Mr. Powell pointed to disaster relief and said the United States "has given more aid in the last four years than any other nation or combination of nations in the world." But for development aid, America gave $16.2 billion in 2003; the European Union gave $37.1 billion. In 2002, those numbers were $13.2 billion for America, and $29.9 billion for Europe.

Making things worse, we often pledge more money than we actually deliver. Victims of the earthquake in Bam, Iran, a year ago are still living in tents because aid, including ours, has not materialized in the amounts pledged. And back in 2002, Mr. Bush announced his Millennium Challenge account to give African countries development assistance of up to $5 billion a year, but the account has yet to disperse a single dollar.

Mr. Bush said yesterday that the $35 million we've now pledged "is only the beginning" of the United States' recovery effort. Let's hope that is true, and that this time, our actions will match our promises.

Thailand
Western women checks lists of dead persons erected at the Phuket city hall in Phuket province, southern Thailand Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)	A western woman who declined to give name and or nationalty said only that she lost her husband and son at a Khao Lak hotel from tidal waves Sunday, sits at a relief center at the city hall in Phuket province, southern Thailand Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)
A Western man and Thais check lists of dead persons posted at the relief center at city hall in Phuket province, southern Thailand Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)	Relatives of missing Thais look over lists of missing and dead Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004, near Takuapa, Thailand. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
Svetlana Martaler, left, a tourist from Bonn, Germany, is consoled by a volunteer as she watches her husband's body being loaded into a coffin for transport home from a Buddhist temple at Takuapa in Southern Thailand on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)	Posters searching for missing loved ones are displayed at a community center Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004, in Takuapa, Thailand. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
A Thai Buddhist monk passes a bulldozer as it clears debris from what used to be a hotel resort in Khao Lak in Southern Thailand on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)	Chalermsri Nilabuth, from Thailand, tries to identify her 17- year-old daughter who had been working at a beach resort when the tsunami hit in Khao Lak in Southern Thailand on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Claes Lindblom, evacuated from Phuket, Thailand, is welcomed by relatives, Dec. 29, 2004, upon his arrival at Landvetter airport, Goteborg, Sweden, after the devastating tsunamis and earthquakes that hit the Asian region. (AP Photo / Bjorn Larsson Rosvall) ** SWEDEN OUT **	** EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTEN T** Residents and a Buddhist monk examine bodies of the victims of Sunday's tidal waves and flooding at a temple in Pang-Nga province, southern Thailand Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)
Wilfred Bretz, of Frankfurt, Germany, who has not located his wife since the tsunami disaster, waits at the Phuket International Airport in Phuket, Thailand, for transport to capital Bangkok, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Suzanne Plunkett)	Jill Thomas, of New Zealand, center, wipes tears as she and Leone Cousens, also of New Zealand, left, are greeted by a Thai acquaintance following their arrival at Phuket International Airport, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004, in Phuket, Thailand. Thomas' sister died Sunday in the tsunami that hit southern Thailand. (AP Photo/Suzanne Plunkett)
A woman from Mexico bursts into tears as she waits for family to arrive at the Phuket International Airport, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004, in Phuket, Thailand. (AP Photo/Suzanne Plunkett)	Medics tend to Georg Stensmeier, of Germany, as he waits at the Phuket International Airport in Phuket, Thailand, for transport to the capital Bangkok, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Suzanne Plunkett)
Thais walk outside a Buddhist temple Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004, near Takuapa, Thailand, where more than 1,000 bodies have been gathered. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)	Libby Wales, shown in an undated family photo, had been in Thailand for three weeks as part of a study abroad program with Stanford University. She was spending her last few days on Phi Phi island off the coast of Thailand when the tsunami struck, Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004. Wales injured her leg and her parents hired a helicopter for $10,000 to fly their daughter to Bangkok's Bumrungrad Hospital, where she is currently being treated for a leg wound, pneumonia and severe blood poisoning, her father Allen Wales said. (AP Photo/courtesy Allen Wales)
Two-year-old Swedish boy Hannes Bergstroem, right, is reunited with his father Marko Karkkainen, in a Phuket hospital, Thailand, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004 in this image made from television. Hannes was found alone in the wasteland of a tsunami-hit resort island in Khao Lak, southern Thailand. (AP Photo/APTN)	The body of a western tourist lies along the debris littered beach near Khao Lak, Thailand, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
Rescue and clean-up crew survey a flooded lobby at the Seapearl Beach Hotel along Patong Beach on Phuket Island, Thailand, on Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2004 after massive tsunami waves smashed coastlines Sunday morning. (AP Photo/ CP, Deddeda Stemler)	Search and rescue workers carry away bodies that had washed up on shore, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2004, at Ton Sai Bay on Phi Phi Island, in Thailand. (AP Photo/Suzanne Plunkett)
Debris is scattered where bungalows and shops formerly stood, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2004, at Ton Sai Bay on Phi Phi Island, in Thailand. Soldiers used bulldozers Tuesday to push into a strip of Thai luxury resorts destroyed by tidal waves, and picked the bodies of European tourists from ruined gardens and suites. (AP Photo/Suzanne Plunkett)	Swede Carl Michael Bergman of Stockholm holds his son Hannes, 1 year old, while talking about his missing wife, Cecilia Bergman, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2004 in Phuket, Thailand. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
In this photo provided by Taiwan's National Space Program Office and taken by Taiwan's satellite FORMOSAT-2 the island of Phuket in Thailand is shown on Wednesday Dec. 29 after being hit by a massive tsunami last Sunday. The Taiwanese government has pledged to offer free photos taken from its satellites over Southeast Asia to help with the relief effort.(AP Photo/National Space Program Office/HO)	In this photo provided by Taiwan's National Space Program Office and taken by Taiwan's satellite FORMOSAT-2 the island of Phuket in Thailand is shown on Tuesday Dec. 28, 2004 after being hit by a massive tsunami last Sunday.(AP Photo/National Space Program Office/HO)
In this photo provided by Taiwan's National Space Program Office and taken by Taiwan's satellite FORMOSAT-2 the island of Phuket in Thailand is shown on Tuesday Dec. 28, 2004 after being hit by a massive tsunami last Sunday. (AP Photo/National Space Program Office/HO)	In this photo provided by Taiwan's National Space Program Office and taken by Taiwan's satellite FORMOSAT-2 the island of Phuket in Thailand is shown on Wednesday Dec. 29 after being hit by a massive tsunami last Sunday. (AP Photo/National Space Program Office/HO)
Indonesia
This is an aerial view of the town of Meulaboh in Aceh province which was flattened by tidal waves on Sunday, photographed on Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Sydney Morning Herald, Nick Moir) ** AUSTRALIA OUT, NO ARCHIVE, NO SALES, ONE TIME USE ONLY**	This is an aerial view of the town of Meulaboh in Aceh province which was flattened by tidal waves on Sunday, photographed on Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Sydney Morning Herald, Nick Moir) ** AUSTRALIA OUT, NO ARCHIVE, NO SALES, ONE TIME USE ONLY **
This is an aerial view of the village of Meulaboh, Indonesia in Aceh province which was destroyed by Sunday's earthquake and tsunami taken on Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Fadlan Arman Syam)	An aerial view shows tsunami-damaged Meulaboh town, West Aceh, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2004. (AP Photo/ANTARA)
In this areal view taken from a commercial plane, a mosque stands amidst a wide swath of destruction in Banda Aceh Thursday Dec. 30, 2004 in Aceh province northwest of Indonesia. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)	Islets are formed of what used to be part of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province in northwest of Indonesia, as seen from a commercial plane on Thursday Dec. 30, 2004 following Sunday's earthquake-triggered tsunami. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
An areal view of a wide swath of destruction of Banda Aceh Thursday Dec. 30, 2004 in Aceh province northwest of Indonesia. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)	An areal view of a wide swath of destruction of Banda Aceh Thursday Dec. 30, 2004 in Aceh province northwest of Indonesia. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
An areal view of a wide swath of destruction of Banda Aceh Thursday Dec. 30, 2004 in Aceh province northwest of Indonesia. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)	A wide swath of destruction of Banda Aceh brought about by Sunday's earthquake-triggered tsunami is shown from a commercial plane Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004 in Aceh province northwest of Indonesia. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Motorists ride through debris on a street in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia's Sumatra island, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)	An Acehnese covers his nose to avoid the stench of corpses near a village destroyed by tidal waves in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia's Sumatra island, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Anxious passengers, mostly returning residents of Banda Aceh, view the devastation from the plane Thursday Dec. 30, 2004 of the earthquake-triggered Tsunami Sunday that left at least 52,000 people dead in Aceh province alone and brought the total death toll to more than 80,000 across South and Southeast Asia. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)	An Acehnese man walks through a flattened village by Sunday's deadly tsunami in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia's Sumatra island, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
An Acehnese man rides a motorcycle past a line of dead bodies of Sunday's deadly tsunami in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)	Acehnese refugees who lost their homes in the Sunday's tsunami queue up for food aid at a distribution point in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)
An injured Acehnese girl who also lost her entire family when a tsunami hit the region last week, wipes her face as she takes a rest at a hospital in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. The girl appears to have lost her memory as she has no recollection of her name. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)	Indonesian soldiers begin the daunting task of cleaning up the debris outside the Baiturahman Mosque at Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004 following Sunday's devastating earthquake and Tsunami in northwest Indonesia. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
An Indonesian soldier guards boxes of food and other relief supplies brought in Thursday Dec. 30, 2004 in Banda Aceh following Sunday's devastating earthquake and Tsunami in northwest Indonesia. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)	Tsunami victims cross flooded river by rope after Sunday's massive tidal wave at Sirombu village in Nias, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Donya)
A motorist covers his nose to avoid the stench of a corpse near a village destroyed by tidal waves in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia's Sumatra island, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)	Acehnese women walk crying through a flattened village by tidal waves in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia's Sumatra island, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Soldiers dump unknown dead bodies from Sunday's earthquake and tsunamis into a common mass grave Wednesday Dec. 29 2004 in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)	Acehnese men cover their nose to avoid the stench from a corpses as they walk through debris at a destroyed market Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004 after tidal waves hit the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, on Sunday. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
A Red Cross worker prepares blood transfusion packages to ship tsunami-damaged Banda Aceh Wednesday Dec. 29, 2004 at Jakarta Red Cross in Jakarta, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Yusrin)	Rescue workers carry body bags before a mass burial near the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia's Sumatra island, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
India
**EDITORS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT** Madras based volunteers of the 'Hope Foundation', remove the body of child, bottom left, who was killed by tsunami from debris, at a fishermens colony at Nagappattinam, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)	A villager returns to a fishermen's colony that was hit by a tsunami, with her belongings , at Nagappattinam, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)
A villager returns to a fishermen's colony that was hit by a tsunami with her belongings, as police walk through debris, at Nagappattinam, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)	Tidal wave victims from Little Andaman Island eat food at a relief camp in Port Blair, in India's southeastern Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Homeless people receive aid at a temporary shelter in Parangipet, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo / Saurabh Das)	Volunteers adjust their makeshift cloth masks as they try to pull out the body of a tsunami victim from debris, unseen, at Nagappattinam, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)
With her hands clutching one of several packets of biscuits received as food aid, a small girl sleeps at a temporary shelter for homeless people in Parangipet, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Thursday Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)	Residents clear debris from their houses to recover their belongings at Nagappattinam, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)
Policemen, who are helping clean up the debris, run for safety as a warning for high waves caused by aftershocks is announced, at Pudukuppum village in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Thursday Dec. 30, 2004. The warning was later withdrawn. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)	One of the damaged buildings of Indian Air Force officers, where more than 100 people reportedly were killed by tidal waves in Nicobar, in India's southeastern Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
A church staff, center, gestures, while local residents look at a display of photographs of unidentified victims who were killed by tidal waves, and were buried before they would be identified or claimed, inside a church in Velakanni, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)	Pyres of victims who were killed by tidal waves burn on the beach at Alappad, in the southern Indian state of Kerala, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Str)
Sri Lanka
This is a natural color satellite image showing the coastline on the southwestern city of Kalutara, Sri Lanka taken Jan. 1, 2004. (AP Photo/DigitalGlobe)	This is a natural color satellite image showing the coastline on the southwestern city of Kalutara, Sri Lanka taken Dec. 26, 2004 at 10:20 a.m. local time, slightly less than four hours after the 6:28 a.m. (local Sri Lanka time) earthquake and shortly after the moment of tsunami impact. (AP Photo/DigitalGlobe)
This is a natural color satellite image showing the coastline on the southwestern city of Kalutara, Sri Lanka taken Jan. 1, 2004. (AP Photo/DigitalGlobe)	This is a natural color satellite image showing the coastline on the southwestern city of Kalutara, Sri Lanka taken Dec. 26, 2004 at 10:20 a.m. local time, slightly less than four hours after the 6:28 a.m. (local Sri Lanka time) earthquake and shortly after the moment of tsunami impact. (AP Photo/DigitalGlobe)
Tsunami survivors collect leftovers from the ruins of collapsed houses in Pamadura, South of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)	Tsunami survivors stand amid the ruins of a collapsed house in Pamadura, South of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Water treatment experts of the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) arrive in Galle, to rebuild and purify the damaged water supply system, in Sri Lanka, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)	A police officer sits outside a collapsed police station, background, in Pamadura, South of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Sri Lankan refugees rests in a temporary camp for people who lost their houses in the tsunami following a massive earthquake off Sumatera, Indonesia Thursday Dec. 30, 2004 in Pillai, northern Sri Lanka. (AP Photo/Ed Wray)	An injured Sri Lankan man rests in a temporary camp for people who lost their houses in the tsunami following a massive earthquake off Sumatra, Indonesia, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004 in Pillai, northern Sri Lanka. (AP Photo/Ed Wray)
An aerial view taken from a helicopter shows debris of houses destroyed by tsunamison the coast of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2004. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)	An aerial shot taken from a helicopter shows debris littering around a houses destroyed by tsunamis in coastal town of Galle, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
An aerial shot taken from a helicopter shows houses destroyed by tsunamis in coastal town of Galle town, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)	An aerial shot taken from a helicopter shows boats stranded on the shore after Sunday's powerful tidal wave in the coastal town Galle, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
** EDITORS NOTE:GRAPHIC CONTENT ** The body of a young girl killed by the weekend's massive tsunami lies outstretched on a beach of a flattened fishing village, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004, in the eastern coastal town of Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)	An aerial view of the southern Sri Lankan city of Galle which was hit by tidal waves, is seen Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. . (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
An aerial view shows southern Sri Lankan town of Payagala, 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Colombo, which was hit by tidal waves, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)	An aerial image taken from a helicopter shows villagers searching for the missing along railroad tracks at Telwatte, about 100 kilometers (63 miles) south of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. The massive tidal waves that slammed into Sri Lanka flung a train off its tracks, leaving many of its 1,000 passengers dead or missing, police said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
An aerial image taken from a helicopter shows villagers stand next to a road destroyed by Sunday's tsunami at Telwatte, about 100 kilometers (63 miles) south of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)	An aerial shot taken from a helicopter shows debris of houses destroyed by Sunday's tsunamis in the sea side of Galle town, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Rescuers look for survivors at Yala Reserve Wildlife Park, 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. Wild life officials expressed surprise Wednesday that they found no evidence of large-scale animal deaths from the weekend's massive tsunami, indicating that animals may have sensed the wave coming and fled to higher ground. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)	In this photo released by Mike Anderson, Kristi Anderson is shown. Kristi Anderson, 42, formerly of San Ramon, Calif., was killed on the southeast coast of Sri Lanka, Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004. The resort in Yala National Park that Kristi Anderson was visiting was wiped out in Sunday's massive earthquake and tsunami, killing Anderson, 42. Her body and passport were found where the resort once stood. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Mike Anderson)