Is France "stingy"?

The following is a selected list of contributions pledged:

AUSTRALIA: $27 million, five air force transport planes with supplies and medical teams as well as team of police.

BRITAIN: 15 million pounds ($29 million).

CAMBODIA: $40,000.

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: 100,000 euros earmarked, 16 rescuers sent to Thailand and 10 tonnes of aid to Sri Lanka.

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: $40 million pledged and three navy vessels sent to Thailand.

KUWAIT: Supplies worth $2 million pledged and $100,000 sent.

QATAR: $10 million

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

SOUTH KOREA: $2 million.

TAIWAN: $5.1 million.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: $2 million.

UNITED STATES: $35 million and 12 vessels to region.

that is so unfair Tico...it's my understanding that the French are preparing to send thousands of giant cakes to feed these unfortunates..... :wink:

Oh, yes, I forgot to mention those 16 rescuers they're sending.

La France va affecter 15 millions d'euros à l'aide internationale pour les pays du sud-est asiatique

BTW: 35,000,000 USD = 25,763,492 EUR

And actually, I really can't believe that anyone is using this disaster as a "money-spending-championship".

Walter, I know you have defended France in the past, and you know I tend to not look favorably upon them, but the early aid figures from France were stark. I'm not sure what you meant by a "money-spending-championship," but the "stingy" comment was made by someone with the UN, another one of my "favorites."

Bush defends US response to tsunami

Mark Tran and agencies
Wednesday December 29, 2004

The US president, George Bush, today rejected accusations that the west had been "stingy" in its offers of aid for victims of the tsunami that wreaked havoc on coastal communities around the Indian Ocean.
In his first comments, three days after the disaster that has taken more than 75,000 lives and made millions homeless, Mr Bush said the initial US grant of $35m (£18.2m) was "only the beginning of our help". But he did not announce an immediate increase in aid.

On Monday, Jan Egeland, the UN's emergency relief coordinator, said the west had generally been "stingy" in its aid to poor countries. Speaking from his Crawford ranch in Texas where he is on holiday, Mr Bush criticised Mr Egeland without naming him.

"I felt like the person who made that statement was very misguided and ill-informed," Mr Bush said. "In the year 2004, our government provided $2.4bn in food and cash and humanitarian relief ... that's 40% of all the relief aid given in the world last year."

On future US aid for the tsunami victims, Mr Bush said: "There will be an assessment of the damage so that the next tranche of the relief will be spent wisely ... our government is fully prepared to continue to provide assistance and help."

But the accusations of stinginess appeared to have hit home as the US initially announced a grant of $15m. By today, the amount had more than doubled.

"The United States will continue to stand with the affected governments as they care for the victims," Mr Bush said. "We will stand with them as they start to rebuild their communities. And together the world will cope with their loss. We will prevail over this destruction."

The president, who spoke to the leaders of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, said: "I assure those leaders that this is just only the beginning of our help."

Mr Bush also said the US would consider all requests for aid, including a German proposal for a debt moratorium for Indonesia and Somalia. Earlier, the German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, said he would propose a moratorium for the two countries' existing Paris Club debt.

But the accusations of stinginess appeared to have hit home as the US initially announced a grant of $15m. By today, the amount had more than doubled.