Germany may increase Tsunami aid to �500m ($673 million US)

Germany has said they may increase the level of aid for the reconstruction of the Islands hit by the Tsunami.

Germany lost many of it's citizens in the Tsunami, 60 Germans have already been identified among the dead and over 1,000 are still missing.

Raw Story
The Federal Government plans�according to a report of the �Leipziger Volkszeitung"�a substantial expansion of the tsunami assistance for south Asia, increasing aid up to a half billion euro. Germany would then be the largest donor country, passing Japan and the U.S.

Berlin has previously said the current pledge of 20 million euro would be revised upward.

According to Leipziger Volkszeitung, up to 500 million euro is to be made available for the reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructure. This is to be decided in the special meeting of the cabinet on Wednesday.

A government spokesman did not confirm the report, but referred to the cabinet meeting.

spiegel.de (original German article)

It was asked in another thread, whether nations are just trying to outdo each other or if this is being done out of a true concern for those affected by the Tsunami. I think it's probably both, as well as a desire to show goodwill to Muslim nations to create a positive image of Western nations in the eyes of Muslims.

[edit on 4-1-2005 by AceOfBase]

I don't think anyone gives a flying rat's ... if the nations are Muslim or not. Those of us who are donating are doing so because PEOPLE are hurting and do not ask religious questions.

Originally posted by Montana
I don't think anyone gives a flying rat's ... if the nations are Muslim or not. Those of us who are donating are doing so because PEOPLE are hurting and do not ask religious questions.

I mentioned that as one of the potential reasons for the governments to give because it was mentioned by some of the news commentators as a potential benefit to the aid donations.

I certainly don't think that was the primary motivation and I doubt it even entered the minds of private donors.

I dont think it matters why people pledge the money, as long as it gets to them in the end

I know however, that Australia is giving special attention to indonesia as it is our closest neighbour, and also to show the people there that we dont hate muslim countries.

As soon as Congress reconvenes you will see the U.S. up the ante even more

Looks like it's official now.

BBC
Germany says it is increasing its aid pledge tsunami victims to more than 500m euros (�352m or $661m).

This makes Germany the biggest European donor to the relief effort for Asian countries hit by the disaster.

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said his country was ready to increase its pledge from �75m ($100m or 53m euros) to several hundred million....

....Contributions

In the list of major donors, Germany is second only to Australia, which announced that it was planning to provide A$1bn ($764m or �406m or 577 m euros).

Germany is followed by followed by Japan which has pledged $500m (�266m or 378m euros), followed by the US with $350m (�186m or 264m euros) and Norway with $181m (�96m or 136m euros).

The World Bank has pledged $250m (�133m or 189m euros).

Almost all EU members, including many eastern European governments, have allocated millions of dollars to help countries in the disaster zone.

Germany is also the leader in private donations, having collected more than a third of the world's total.

It is followed by Britain where private donations exceed government pledges by almost 50%.

That money, combined with what other governments and private donors have given, should go a long way towards rebuilding those nations.

Billions are pouring into that part of the world. Officially and
unofficially. Every store I go into, every church on our street,
every business .... they all have big buckets or glass jars full
of cash that people are donating $$ to go to the tsunami
victims. I'm sure it's the same in every other town across this
country. None of that $$$ will be officially counted of course.

But I am wondering .... with all these countries shelling out
more and more $$$$ .... have any of them done a work up
of how much it will cost to rebuild and help in that area?

I am glad people are donating. I'm glad governments and
business' (like Boeing here in America just announced a
multi-million $$ donation) are donating. But do any of the
governments who are donating know what they are going
to do with the donation money?

Is it for immediate needs .... food, clothing, shelter.
Is it for long term needs .... housing, schools, etc.

I haven't seen anything written out as to what they think
their donations will go to. I see countries throwing big $$
at the situation, but I don't see what they think the $$ will
go towards.

That part of the world had many very poor people before the
tsunami hit. I doubt that 'reconstruction' will be of the poor
homes that were there. (at least this is an opportunity to raise
the standard of living for the survivors) Are there any plans that
have been made available to the public? Or is it 'just' throwing
money at the situation?

I know Doctors without Boarders has told people to stop
donating to their Tsunami fund because they have all they
need. They said exactly what they will be doing with the
funds that were donated. Has anyone else?

Just curious. I'd like to see what the plan of action is.
IF there is one. I know this took everyone by surprise so
there may not be anything in place yet.

Australian PM John Howard went against the popular opinion of world leaders to drop the debt owed by these disaster struck countries as payment. I agree with him 100%. These civilians are not the ones who owe the debt and they need these funds to provide aid now, There is no way of knowing whether these people would recieve the aid provided by governments and corporations who are the indebted. It would be a bad move to leave it for them to allocate the money they save through freed debt.

Where are the Americans now who were posing that they donate more than the whole EU together and they are so good and generous to the world?!

That the massive donations by Australia and Germany aren't worth being reported on ATSNN just shows how objective this board is.
Hail America. This one has become a sucky board (and this ain't my first account, I am employeed and unlike others dont have the time to reply 10.000 times to get a #ty award thats worth nothing...)