Natural disasters

I woke up this morning to the news that there was an earthquake in Indonesia and over 3,500 people were killed. Just two years ago, the same area lost over 115,000 people to the devastaing tsunami. It kind of puts my dilemmas into perspective, and even makes me feel a little guilty for the great opportunities i have in life. But maybe i should try to channel that guilt (that's probably the Catholic guilt.. nothing to compare it to) into a more positive energy. Be more appreciative of my life, and make the most of everything i have. To have something and waste it, would be worse. Of course there has to be a balance. I have to give as much as i take.

I was impressed by the speed of the financial and medical aid that the western nations supplied to the area, and promised in assistance, especially the European Commission and Unicef. Though did anyone else find the initial $500,000 from the U.S. a little on the loose-pocket-change and tight-shallow-pocket side? The U.S. budgets 20 billion dollars a year of taxpayer money for International Assistance Programmes (www.federalbudget.com). -Time for a disclaimer now. I'm terrible with numbers and anyways, Papua New Guinea isn't exactly in a position to offer financial assistance to anyone, so this is where i'm coming from. And I know that the U.S. is helping in Africa and South America and parts of Asia and has its mind set on the Middle East (ahem) so the budget is probably spread pretty thin, but this is a tragedy, a catastrophy. Maybe the oil profits could help out this once...

In the end Australia said it would send $2.3 million, and the US followed suit with $2.5 million, probably a little shamed of the first offer. Other numbers have risen too. In the time it's taken me to write this post, the head count is over 3,700. Some of us are very lucky.