America has provided more that enough support for the countries that were demolished by the tsunami. Almost immediately after the tsunami hit, dozens, if not hundreds, of relief efforts began. We contributed more than any other country in the world. Some countries have complained to the U.S. that we are not helping enough, considering our size. I think that we have helped these other countries enough.
“Tsunami Devastates Coastline!” “Tsunami Strikes Sumatra.” The headlines went on and on. As soon as the tsunami made landfall, and even before, anytime that you turned on the TV, all you saw was news reports about the tsunami or advertisements for charities. Channel after channel ran news shows or specials about the tsunami, in between which there would be a commercial for the some charity that needed donations to take over there. On the Internet all you had to do was type in “tsunami” and about 50 sites would come up asking for donations to support the people in Sumatra.
America has been accused of being stingy and slow to respond. Yet within a week of the strike, tons of food and supplies were being flown down to the stricken people in Sumatra. I don’t recall hearing about any other country devoting as much energy and support to the relief effort than America did. I found some statistics on the Internet that showed that the U.S. has given over 1,900 million dollars to the tsunami relief efforts, with pledges to give hundreds of millions more. Still, that 1,900 million alone is already far exceeding anything that any other country has given.
Previous to the tsunami, another devastating event took place, this one on American soil. This came in the form of the World Trade Towers being attacked and destroyed, killing thousands in the process. Look at the support, or lack of, that we got from other countries. As far as I could tell, there wasn’t much there. Support came pouring in from the rest of our own country. Firefighters, policemen, and rescue crews from all over America worked around the clock, sorting through debris and bodies. Two of our largest and most infamous towers were destroyed and not many countries lifted a finger or opened their wallets to come to our aid.
We have given millions of dollars to the tsunami relief effort in Sumatra, and people are still asking for more. Even though we could have used more help on 9/11, not much was there. If other nations truly want and expect us to give up so much of our own resources as soon as another country gets the short end of the stick, then it would be nice if they would be ready to return the favor when we in turn experience that short end. Now we are experiencing another disaster of our own with Katrina. America has done enough to help the tsunami victims in Indonesia.