Sheiks and Sultans - Have Opened Their Wallets !

Impovrished countries like Cambodia are giving what they can while the U.S. moves an entire naval carrier group to give immediate aid and support in excess of 35M from emergency funds, with more on the way after assessment. This story was even given a fair but somewhat biased coverage in Al-Jazeera today, (not accounting for % GDP) although they are not highlighting the obvious as we have done except putting the "oil rich nation" remarks in their comments along with disclosure of their contributions! One of our readers commented (thank you Patrick ASD) that as a % of GDP the "Oil Rich Nations" HAVE actually given generous contributions. [We stand corrected from previous post.] So we have included some of his GDP normalization, however we are not sure if it reflected currency normalization, and is shown in bold brackets under the original Al-Jazeera posting. Just to be fair, we are reposting this one...

From Aljazeera (Un-confirmed) just to share their perspective:

"...The US more than doubled its initial aid pledge to $35 million, Canada $33 million and Japan $30 million to lead a string of countries - rich and poor - to roll out the world's largest international aid operation for decades to devastated coastal areas.
AUSTRALIA: $27 million, five air force transport planes with supplies and medical teams as well as team of police..."

BRAZIL: Sent air force plane with up to 10 tonnes of food and 6-8 tonnes of medicine to Thailand.

BRITAIN: 15 million pounds ($29 million).
[0.00174% GDP]

CAMBODIA: $40,000.

CANADA: Government aid C$40 million ($33 million). Private
donations to non-governmental organisations such as Red Cross exceeds C$8.5 million.
[0.00344% GDP]

CHINA: 21.6 million yuan ($2.6 million).

CZECH REPUBLIC: A plane sent to Sri Lanka with drinking
water. Officials said aid worth $444,400 would be sent.

EUROPEAN UNION: Ready to release up to 30 million euros ($41 million) on top of 3 million euros already allocated to IFRC.

FINLAND: Pledged 500,000 euros to the IFRC. Local
aid organisations have contributed another 75,000 euros. The Finnish Red Cross has sent a field hospital with 15 staff to Sri Lanka.

FRANCE: 15 million euros pledged and 110 tonnes of aid, along with 16 rescuers sent to Thailand.

GERMANY: 2 million euros. Three German planes to be dispatched to Phuket.

INDIA: Has promised over $23 million in monetary aid besides sending warships and aircraft to distribute food, medicines and blankets to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

JAPAN: $30 million pledged and three navy vessels sent to Thailand.

KUWAIT: Supplies worth $2 million pledged and $100,000 sent.
[0.00500%]

QATAR: $10 million

SAUDI ARABIA: $10 million package pledged, half to be distributed via the Saudi Red Crescent, and half for international aid groups.
[0.00347% GDP]

SLOVAKIA: Sent plane with drinking water, tents and medicine
to Sri Lanka; aid worth 6.6 million Slovak crowns ($231,660).

SLOVENIA: Donating 20 million tolars ($113,500) through International Red Cross and Crescent.

SOUTH KOREA: $2 million.

TAIWAN: $5.1 million.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: $2 million.
[UAE - 0.00347%]

UNITED STATES: $35 million and 12 vessels to region.
[0.00031% GDP]

It's gratifying to see that the world is finally coming together around this tragedy.

Too bad the U.N. is still floundering except for pointing fingers at aid disparities. This should be their opportunity to shine. Let's just hope Kofi Annan and his sons stay away from the contributions. It improves the chances of it getting to the people who need it. We wonder who will inspect the U.N inspectors this time around? Can the U.N. be entrusted with administering relief aid amounting to the billions of dollars? This blogger thinks not.