Germans open hearts, wallets to tsunami victims
Germans open hearts, wallets to tsunami victims
Agencies, Berlin/Jakarta
In just three weeks, the German public has donated a record 400 million euros (US$522 million) in aid for victims of the Asian tsunamis, making Germany on Monday the most generous country worldwide in helping the Indian Ocean region recover from the disaster.
"Four hundred million euros in private donations have been collected. I am happy that German people have shown themselves to be so generous, sensitive and willing to help," Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told a news conference of foreign journalists.
"This shows that Germany's international responsibility is not only being taken seriously by the politicians, but also by civil society," he added.
The record vaults Germany, with an additional government pledge of 500 million euros ($650 million) in aid, to the top of the global list of those responding to last month's catastrophic earthquake and floods.
One of the biggest individual contributions came from Michael Schumacher, motor racing's Formula One world champion, who donated 7.5 million euros.
The chancellor said the generosity was in part perhaps because the Dec. 26 earthquake off Indonesia and the resulting tidal waves -- which have killed more than 168,000 people across 11 countries -- evoked memories among older Germans of the destruction and tens of thousands of civilian deaths during World War II.
In addition, he said the record was because Germans "empathized" with the Asians, the majority of them poor and many of them children, affected by the disaster.
The fact that so many Germans travel to southern Asia, particularly the worst-hit countries of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, likely also played a role encouraging Germans to dig deep.
The previous record stood at 350 million euros in the summer of 2002, when massive flooding hit large parts of eastern and southern Germany.
The Asian disaster has claimed at least 60 German lives, and left 678 officially missing.
Donors in other countries -- such as Sweden, Australia, the United States, Canada, France, Britain and Italy -- have also offered tens, sometimes more than a hundreds millions dollars in private donations.
Only in the richest nation, the United States did the public, along with top stars of Hollywood and the music industry help U.S. private donations reach $350 million.
The Australians have also been generous, contributing at least $118 million through various events, including a telethon and an international cricket match.
The British public has given $190 million so far and more money is likely to flow in, with British pop and rock stars to play a concert later this month in aid of victims.
In all, private donations from all the world's countries add up to close to $2.3 billion, according to an AFP tally.
Meanwhile, South Korea deployed a government survey team to Indonesia to prepare a report on how Seoul can help Jakarta.
South Korea has pledged $15 million to Indonesia and Korean people collected another $20 million through donations, the South Korean Embassy in Jakarta said in a press release.
The Afghan Embassy in Jakarta said its government has sent food, medicines and a medical team to Aceh's tsunami victims. The aid arrived in Medan on Tuesday.
Humanitarian aid from Sudan also arrived in Jakarta on Tuesday on a Qatar Airways plane, the Embassy of Sudan said. The aid consists of a mobile hospital, food, blankets and a medical team.
The Lebanese Embassy in Jakarta said its government had sent a plane load of humanitarian aid consisting of blankets, kitchen utensils and medicines to Indonesia.
The Turkish Embassy announced that its government had raised Turkey's contribution to $5 million from $1.25 million to tsunami affected countries, out of which $2 million is earmarked for Indonesia.