Tsunami Relief Action Alert:
American Voices for Asia is an initiative by Americans for Informed Democracy to register American public support for the U.S. government to demonstrate principled leadership in responding to the tsunami disaster in South and Southeast Asia and East Africa. Currently, American Voices is collecting electronic signatures from American citizens who want the U.S. to take a leadership role in providing relief for disaster victims. These signatures will be shared with policymakers and the press in an effort to show U.S. concern for disaster victims and ensure a principled U.S. response. If you would like to sign on to the letter below, please insert your name, mailing address, and e-mail in the boxes under the letter. Sing the letter here -
http://www.principledleadership.org/. News and information about resources, aid, donations and volunteer efforts -
http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com/. From The Nation Blog:
The earthquake and tsunami that ravaged thousands of coastline villages from Thailand to Somalia this past weekend has prompted an urgent need for relief from the international community. With the death toll at 76,000 and rising quickly, the threat of infectious diseases is increasing rapidly as entire islands go without clean water and medicine.
The Bush Administration initially announced a $15 million aid package in response to the disaster, and upped that to $35 million yesterday in the face of mounting public pressure. Jan Egeland, the UN's emergency relief coordinator, got the ball rolling when he criticized the US's contributions to economically-struggling countries around the world as "stingy" in recent years.
Unfortunately, Egeland's criticism finds support in the numbers: the New York Times reported this morning that the US is among the least generous nations in the world in proportion to the size of its economy when it comes to providing assistance to poor countries.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in 2003 contributions by the US represented only 0.14 percent of the US gross national income, making it the smallest donor percentagewise among developed nations. By contrast, Egeland's native Norway gave 0.92 percent of its gross national income; Denmark, 0.84 percent; the Netherlands, 0.81 percent; Luxembourg, 0.80 percent; and Sweden, 0.70 percent.
http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=183
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