The Great Charity Race

I have been less than impressed by the prevelant blog discussions about who has given more aid to the tsunami relief organizations, which country is 'top of the list' and which countries are tight b*****ds. Initially, the USA's figure of $18million appeared paltry, unless you compared it to Germanys $2million. Britian initially offered £15million [approx $30miilion]. As the scale of the tragedy unfolded, everyone upped their figures, and as it stands now, Britian has raised £60million in private donations, and the government is offering a further £50million. The USA rightly has increased its sum to $350million, which is more like it, considering the size and wealth of the country. The fact that yanks have been bleating about other people [er, everyone] saying they were tight fisted is ridiculous - you cant have it both ways - be the richest country in the world and then pretend not to be - everyone KNOWS the yanks are tight unless there is a vested interest in helping. [We've been paying them back for years for their 'help' in WW2].

My local shopkeepers are all Tamils from Sri Lanka, and their faces tell a story. Usually we all share the banter and crack jokes, but at the moment the atmosphere is thick with unstated facts. There's a big box on the counter for customers to put their change in, and no one leaves the shop without donating. You get the feeling this money will go to help their families directly, or to some local temple which can help. Apparently within hours of the event, the Hindu and Buddhist temples in Britain were sending out emergency supplies. Let's hope that as the whole machine kicks in, normality can return to the most beautiful part of the world.

scary article about canary islands tsunami and Europe

... and what would happen to American Coast