[ OUR OPINION ]

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Massive assistance needed
for tsunami victims

THE ISSUE Efforts are under way to provide humanitarian aid to victims of the tsunami that struck countries around the Indian Ocean.

HAWAII residents have joined in what must be the most challenging humanitarian effort in history, trying to limit the devastating human misery that ravaged a dozen countries around the Indian Ocean. Family videos of the tsunami's monstrous waves shown on television during the past week should result in an outpouring of compassion and assistance as unprecedented as the disaster itself.

Most of the videos were shot at the popular resort island of Phuket, Thailand, by vacationing Europeans and Americans, revealing that the victims come from all reaches of the world. At least four Hawaii families lost loved ones in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia.

The East-West Center has been in the forefront of the humanitarian effort locally, establishing a fund that will distribute money to international organizations, such as the Red Cross, as well as grassroots organizations in the countries in need. The Star-Bulletin's Web site includes a link to the center's site, where online contributions can be made by credit card.

In a letter of appreciation, Secretary of State Colin Powell noted that many participants in East-West Center programs are from the countries hardest hit by the tsunami. Some of the center's students will perform music and dances at the center in a fund-raising event this afternoon.

Other local organizations collecting donations are the Hawaii chapter of the American Red Cross, the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu and Central Pacific Bank.

Americans, including Hawaii residents, are not "stingy," as Jan Egeland, United Nations undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, suggested on Monday. The United Nations has taken the position that all countries give 1 percent of GNP in foreign aid. The $15.8 billion in aid by the U.S. in 2003 amounted to 0.14 percent of the country's GNP. Egeland, former deputy foreign minister of Norway, boasted that his country was No. 1 under that measurement, at 0.92 percent.

As President Bush pointed out, the United States contributed 40 percent of aid relief for the world's emergencies this year. That does not include private donations, which totaled $34 billion in 2003, more than twice what the government gave. In the current relief effort, major corporations, ranging from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and Johnson & Johnson to Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart, have made large contributions.

Bush has been criticized for waiting four days before speaking publicly about the disaster, but the government took the lead in the relief effort from the beginning. By week's end, the U.S. had pledged $350 million in government assistance to tsunami victims, more than triple that of any other country, and that figure will greatly increase.