12/29/2004
American tsunami survivor in Thailand describes local handling of official U.S. assistance as "appalling". Whereas other govts. had booths set up in the airport, she had to search for U.S. officials who were in VIP lounge. Despite the fact that many had lost all their belongings, officials demanded payment for new passport photos.
Posted 12:58 PM EST by Andy Towle in Elsewhere | Permalink
Like it?
Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!
RECENT STORIES:
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
Ah, the mind of a bureaucrat.
Posted by: James | Dec 29, 2004 3:11:53 PM
There's a similar comment to this one on A Socialite's Life. I would hate to think the Gov't would try to gloss this one over.
Posted by: MT | Dec 29, 2004 3:16:42 PM
god bless america, It's tough to see how little we care, when the world reached out to us after 9/11.
Posted by: Alex | Dec 29, 2004 4:11:01 PM
Its hard to believe that 35 million of your tax dollars is what you refer to as "how little we care".
Lets see...
Canada 1 million
China 2.6 million
France $136,000
Germany 2 million
UK 28 million
Italy - 2 aircraft sent
Australia 27 million
Denmark 15.6 million
Austria 1.4 million
Japan 30 million
In addition the USA has also pledged 12 vessels sent to the region. 3 Navy planes sent to Thailand to assist in search-and-rescue operations. 8 transport planes loaded with tents, food, clothing and other supplies.
Did you notice that the countries that support Bush have also contributed the most money by far? Thank you Mr Bush, once again you showed the world that America does care.
Also, I heard that the story of the passport photo fee was untrue. I didn't see any other stories of fees being charged other than by that whiney girl.
Posted by: Richard the Yankee | Dec 29, 2004 6:18:42 PM
Alex, what are you talking about? I don't see ANY evidence to suggest that Americans care little about what's happened (on a side note, I'm not American).
Attempting to politicize something like this to the tune of "Bush/the administration/Republicans/America/etc. don't care" seems a little cynical and unnecessary at a time like this.
Posted by: Nick | Dec 29, 2004 6:25:58 PM
Oh, and the "don't politicize this" thing goes for Richard, too. Heh.
Posted by: Nick | Dec 29, 2004 6:27:00 PM
While other Americans were helping in the relief efforts, and comforting people, Faye Wachs moaned enough so that some journalist got their 'Bush/America bad' story.
Posted by: Bill | Dec 29, 2004 7:42:54 PM
Yes - America is helping with the Asia disaster - but think how much more we could help - if we didn't dump and continue to dump BILLIONS in the sandlot - Iraq!
Bush is not a hero - almost 1 out of 2 Americans voted against him! Remember that! He is helping cause it "looks good" - I know the man personally - he is not a good person. Not at all.
Posted by: Chris | Dec 29, 2004 8:02:11 PM
Faye's mother didn't help much either. Take note, the Thai gov't are the ones who set up the Americans in the VIP lounge.
Posted by: Richard the Yankee | Dec 29, 2004 8:08:22 PM
Ricard: go to sleep, looks like u need some rest
Posted by: andrew | Dec 29, 2004 10:49:38 PM
How about we take the $40 million that they're planning to spend on parties and balls to celebrate the upcoming inaguration, and send it in relief instead? Seems like a much better "celebration" and statement of what's truly important to me....but, then, I'm just a bleeding-heart liberal.
Posted by: Jeff | Dec 30, 2004 4:02:49 AM
Richard, How can you use this disaster to raise one more time your little political opinion ? By the way the donation by France is €22M, for now ! Not bad for a country smaller than california ...
Posted by: A & S | Dec 30, 2004 7:12:05 AM
I stand corrected, France has increased their aid, as has many other countries. But I did not try to make a political opinion about the aid pledged.
Sorry people, I hardly doubt the inaguration will be cancelled to send the money to Asia, nor will the New Years eve celebrations in Times Square and Las Vegas, not to mention Paris, London and countless other cities.
Why do you all seem to find wrong in every step that is taken by the US government?
The USA said Wednesday the United States, India, Australia and Japan formed an international coalition that goes far beyond the initial U.S. pledge of US$35 million which includes U.S. military manpower and damage surveillance teams in the short term and long-term rebuilding assistance. In case you didn't realize this is a "nose thumb" reaction to by-pass the UN due to the comments made a few days ago where the UN refered to the rich countries as being "stingy".
In case anyone didn't notice, Spain was the largets financial contibutor so far at $68 million.
Posted by: Richard the Yankee | Dec 30, 2004 1:23:22 PM
I feel burnt out by coalitions. I feel frustrated that it took so long to send aid from this country, that it took the President so long to address America and the World and to acknowledge the disaster. We had carriers groups in the area, they were not sent immediately. I feel frustrated that it took four days for the Bush administration to rally the troops as it were, we are in a battle to concourse the “hearts and minds” of a very unstable rejoin, even before this disaster. This will change the world. Only time will tell how and by how much. Corporate America has already surpassed the pledge of the United States government.
Posted by: Alex | Dec 30, 2004 1:53:37 PM
How could we possibly react before we know what is going on? We aren't the only country that raised aid and sent additional assistance in the last 48 hours. The situation is everchanging and I am sure the money currently pledged isn't the last.
You simply cannot cruise into the zone with a battleship and take over. Have you any idea how big a ship is and where is could park? Once the ship is there what happens with the people on it? You cannot just unload them in a situation like this and let them go ashore, remember this is a military ship. I would assume that in a situation like this you have to contact and work with the local authorities.
As for the President, I he was on the crisis immediately as it happened. There are many types of people in this world and not everyone steps out and makes a speech before they know what is going on. Before he comes out and addresses the "world" the situation has to be understood.
Don't feel so frustrated. After disaster there is recovery. Years ago I was living in Oakland when the fire broke out in the Oakland Hill and left thousands fleeing and homeless. What a tragedy, probably the worst one I have experiences in my life. I remember hearing a report say that once every few decades Mother nature says "burn those hills" and it doesn't matter if people are there or how it is has been built up. It's the course of nature. People who live on the coasts, hurricane zones, ring of fire or near volcanos certainly live with a lot of beauty but it seems that with beauty comes the risk of Mother Nature and her course of action.
The crisis in Asia isn't even the biggest disaster we have ever experienced yet in real time it touches everyones hearts. Bangladesh lost 500,000 people in November 1970 and more than 130,000 in April 1991, from cyclone-induced flooding, and the massive flooding of the Yangtze River in China in 1931 caused more than 3 million deaths from flooding and starvation. The second deadliest quake struck the Chinese province of Shansi on February 2, 1556. It killed 830,000 people. The 1976 Tangshan earthquake in China, a magnitude 8 event whose toll of lives varies between the official 255,000, and an estimated 655,000.
Yes it is a crisis, but time will repair and although it has changed our world for the current moment, I doubt it will have long term effects.
As for the USA, do you really think we were sitting back trying to make a decsision whether we should help or not?
Posted by: Richard the Yankee | Dec 30, 2004 5:23:05 PM
I am deeply offended by Bill's comments. Most of the complaining was done by others based on what I told them in personal conversations. (Many have since apologized to me for putting me at the center of this). My husband and I spent plenty of time comforting victims and aiding in relief. I never asked to talk to the media, they found me and pursued me until I spoke to them, including meeting me at the airport, showing up at my home, and calling me at work. I want to add, I never mentioned George Bush, and if I wanted to talk about him, I certainly have better criticisms than the failure of a few civil servants.
Posted by: Faye Wachs | Oct 20, 2005 4:49:49 PM