inside the glass house

The flow of tsunami aid: Where does it end?
NEW YORK - Perhaps one of the tragic ironies of the tsunami disaster is the unexpected windfall for the United Nations and for private relief agencies, which have been desperately short of funds for natural calamities such as floods, earthquakes and hurricanes worldwide.

Faced with an embarrassment of unanticipated riches - triggered by an outpouring of generosity prompted ironically by the deaths of over 220,000 people in south and south-east Asia - some of the humanitarian agencies are asking donors to stop sending any more monies for tsunami relief.

The US-based charity 'Save the Children' never expected "the onslaught of money" that kept pouring into its offices in Westport, Connecticut. Within two weeks of the tsunami disaster, it received more than $10 million in donations over the Internet alone, mostly from over-generous Americans who have always been magnanimous in opening up their wallets in times of natural disasters. This was in contrast to the $30,000 to $40,000 the organisation routinely receives online every month.

The New York Times quoted Lori Redmer, the organisation's associate vice president for corporate relations, as saying: "In my wildest dreams, I couldn't have envisioned this."

The news of the overwhelming generosity still keeps pouring in. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), which appealed for $144 million in donations, has stopped collecting money after it hit over $300 million last week. That's more than twice what it needs for tsunami relief.

The Geneva-based International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, described as the world's biggest relief group, received an unprecedented $1.2 billion in donations within 30 days of the tsunami disaster. According to one news report, it has enough money to fund a 10-year reconstruction plan.

The United Nations has been ecstatic. At a news conference on Wednesday, the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland went into raptures over tsunami relief funds. The humanitarian response for the tsunami disaster, he said, was "remarkably, perhaps singularly, effective, swift and muscular."

Unfortunately, not at all of monies collected, specifically by relief agencies, will go to the tsunami devastated areas. Logistically, relief agencies say, it is not possible to ensure that every cheque written to tsunami relief in Sri Lanka, for example, would necessarily end up in Sri Lanka.

"People are very emotional, and they want their money to help the people that they see in pictures and on television,'' says Thomas Tighe, president of Direct Relief Organisation. But this is not possible, say most charitable organisations, which keep some of the monies for their long term needs and for increased overheads and administrative costs.

The American Institute of Philanthropy, which monitors charitable organisations, says that at least four organisations, the American Red Cross, Lutheran World Relief, Doctors Without Borders USA and Save the Children, have the best track record because they spend over 80 to 90 percent of their funds on programme services.

The tsunami disaster may also have an unintended consequence: monies sent to help Indonesia, Maldives or Sri Lanka may be earmarked to feed the starving children in Sudan or the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In a statement to the UN Security Council last week, Egeland said that while the response to the natural disaster in south and south-east Asia has been extremely positive, the response to man-made disasters in violence-ridden Sudan and DRC has been poor. "While we failed in Africa," he said, "we succeeded in the beaches of the Indian Ocean."

Last year, out of 15 humanitarian appeals launched by the UN, 13 were for countries in Africa. But Burundi received only about 44 percent of its emergency needs in international assistance; Cote d'Ivoire about 34 percent and Liberia about 48 percent.

Was it Africa-fatigue? Was it inherent racism? Or was it a logical reaction by donors to natural disasters as against man-made disasters?

While the bulk of the billions of dollars collected from international donors may not necessarily be channelled to the 12 countries devastated by the tragedy, the funds raised by the expatriate community in the US have been specifically earmarked for Sri Lanka.

Every single Sri Lankan in the tri-state area -- New York, New Jersey and Connecticut -- did his or her part to help the relief efforts back home. At curtain calls during the Broadway musical "Bombay Dreams", the Sri Lankan-born Yolande Bavan read out an appeal for help triggering voluntary contributions of nearly $8,000 in the lobby of the theatre.

The total funds collected by the New York Buddhist Vihara reached over $165,000. Additionally, the Staten Island Buddhist Vihara raised a total of $125,000 from regular donations and received $108,000 from the World Trade Centre United Family Group which responded to a gesture by the Vihara after the September 11 tragedy in New York. The New Jersey Buddhist Vihara raised about $60,000.

A Food Bazaar organised by the UN Staff Relief Committee -- and coordinated by Rukshan Perera, Tissa Abeyratne and Rohini de Silva -- riased about $8,000 last week. The UN Staff Union collected over $10,000 for tsunami relief.

The individual efforts were equally remarkable: Jay Liyanage, the Honory Consul for New Jersey (who spearheaded the Rotarian relief efforts), Rohan Siriwardena and Dillan Ariyawansa of Sri Lankan Airlines (who facilitated the movement of relief aid), Priyan Fernando of American Express (whose company donated $1 million to support the work of Red Cross and Red Crescent), Buddhi Abeyasekera of the Empire Hotel Group (whose President and Chief Executive Officer Sam Domb raised about $20,000) Tony Singaraya of Johnson and Johnson (who helped collect massive amounts of urgently-needed drugs), and Dr Wije Kottahachchi, president of the Sri Lanka Medical Association of North America (whose organisation ferried one million water purification tablets) -- just to name a few.

Thalif: IPS North America Director
Sunday Times columnist Thalif Deen, currently UN Bureau Chief for Inter Press Service news agency, will take on additional duties as IPS Regional Director overseeing operations in North America.

A former reporter on the Ceylon Observer, Mr. Deen is a Fulbright scholar with a Master's Degree in Journalism from Columbia University in New York. He was twice runner-up for ''excellence in UN reporting'' at the annual award presentations by the UN Correspondents' Association in New York. Headquartered in Rome, IPS is one of the fastest growing international news agencies (www.ipsnews.net) with over 300 journalists worldwide

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