Red Cross to end fund raising

Red Cross to end fund raising

Sue Pleming, Reuters/Washington

The Red Cross federation, the world's biggest humanitarian group, said on Tuesday its societies worldwide had raised enough money to help victims of the Asian tsunami and it would wind down fund raising.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies plans to announce its decision in Geneva on Wednesday, one month after the Dec. 26 tsunami that killed more than 228,000 people in Indian Ocean regions from Thailand to Somalia.

"We have sufficient funds to cover the relief and recovery program and fund raising will now wind down around the world," said Sian Bowen, head of media and public relations for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva.

She declined until Wednesday to provide details on how much has been raised by the more than 70 Red Cross societies involved in the tsunami campaign but said the American Red Cross was among the most generous.

"The disaster touched a part of people that made them give extremely generously. Our fund raising has been amazing. We have been overwhelmed in a pleasant way. When the figures are released that will be reflected," said Bowen by telephone.

The American Red Cross has raised more than US$223 million in the past month, according to its Website, and is expected to make its own announcement soon of plans to stop its special fund- raising drive.

Red Cross representatives are in Indonesia and Sri Lanka fine- tuning plans on how to use the money, which will fund programs for the next 10 years from feeding and housing people displaced by the tsunami to psychological counseling.

The decision by the Red Cross to cease fund raising follows one made earlier this month by French charity Doctors Without Borders, which also said it had raised enough.

But other aid groups urged the public to continue donating money, particularly in the reconstruction phase.

Governments, aid groups and private donors have pledged more than $7 billion so far in tsunami aid but it could take months or years before much of the money materializes.

Sid Balman, a spokesman for the U.S. umbrella aid group InterAction, said it was crucial that donors, and especially governments, followed through with pledges.

"Communities were completely shattered and based on past experience, a percentage of donations that governments pledge might not materialize," said Balman.

He said it was important for donors to realize that many of InterAction's 160 members had not met their funding goals.

"People should not assume that just because the Red Cross has enough, so do others," said Balman.

InterAction estimates its members have raised more than $450 million for tsunami victims.

CARE USA spokeswoman Lurma Rackley said her group had raised about $25 million so far and its goal was $50 million in pledges for reconstruction work.

"We have been in the tsunami-affected areas for decades and will be there for the long haul. We don't know which pledges will be fulfilled and how much will be needed. We are not shutting off the fund raising for the long term," she said.

Save The Children USA spokeswoman Colleen Sutton said her organization was also continuing its fund-raising efforts.

"I think people recognize the long term need for children and what it will take to rebuild their lives and we hope people will continue to give," she said.