Japan PM announced $500mil for tsunami

[toant103]

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TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has announced his nation would offer $500 million in grant aid for the tsunami-stricken regions of southern Asia.

Saturday's announcement makes Japan the single largest contributor in the relief efforts.

Japan had previously pledged $30 million.

The decision to raise Japan's funding level comes one day after the United States increased its aid to the region from $35 million to $350 million, which at the time was the largest contribution by a nation.

The increase followed criticism that the initial amount was far from enough. (Full story)

More than $1.5 billion has now been pledged by the international community.

Aid has begun to reach tsunami victims in remote areas of Indonesia as a United Nations official says the death toll could grow from 138,000 to 150,000. (Full story)

U.S. military helicopters Saturday dropped relief supplies into parts of Indonesia's hard-hit Aceh province virtually cut off from the rest of the world for nearly a week after a powerful earthquake and subsequent tsunamis claimed 80,000 lives in Indonesia.

 

[KLin]

Is this some kind of a damn contest? :roll:

 

[amol]

What is this, a competition?!?!

Are you going to donate more than your neighbor??

 

[HardcoreRobot]

i feel like im sitting in church while they are passing around the basket

its not a competition

 

[Kalvin00]

Didn't France donate the most now?

 

[oogabooga]

Originally posted by: Kalvin00
Didn't France donate the most now?

no they just sat around and complained how the US didn't.

 

[LtPage1]

lol. this is good- who knows, eventually all the victims will be given enough money to just emigrate to the US.

 

[AaronB]

Originally posted by: KLin
Is this some kind of a damn contest? :roll:

 

[zoiks]

What does France have to do with this?
I believe pretty much everyone was pissed on the 35mil pledge.

 

[Yzzim]

U.S. military helicopters Saturday dropped relief supplies into parts of Indonesia's hard-hit Aceh province

That's gotta be worth quite a bit right there. I haven't heard of Russia, China, or France using any of their military to provide aid to the victims.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: KLin
Is this some kind of a damn contest? :roll:

It's quickly becoming that.

The church analogy is excellent, this is all rather asinine.

This won't be a popular opinion, but I'll say it anyway:

Sh!t happens. It's not our job to clean up everyone else's mess.

Private donations are fine by me, but I tend to lean against stated dollar amount donations made by the US Government. I'm OK with providing supplies & help & whatever else we can in the way of assistance (as a nation) but pulling an arbitrary number from our collective asses just to show up the rest of the world is beyond ridiculous.

Sadly in this day & age it's expected of us, & we either play along or we get sh!t from everyone - Even our own citizens.

Viper GTS

 

[JulesMaximus]

Tell you what. I'll donate nothing and you can donate a dollar.

 

[Yzzim]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS

Originally posted by: KLin
Is this some kind of a damn contest? :roll:

It's quickly becoming that.

The church analogy is excellent, this is all rather asinine.

This won't be a popular opinion, but I'll say it anyway:

Sh!t happens. It's not our job to clean up everyone else's mess.

Private donations are fine by me, but I tend to lean against stated dollar amount donations made by the US Government. I'm OK with providing supplies & help & whatever else we can in the way of assistance (as a nation) but pulling an arbitrary number from our collective asses just to show up the rest of the world is beyond ridiculous.

Sadly in this day & age it's expected of us, & we either play along or we get sh!t from everyone - Even our own citizens.

Viper GTS

Didn't you setup a donation one time to get a video card for a member of this forum? Paulson maybe?

 

[PowerMac4Ever]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
Sh!t happens. It's not our job to clean up everyone else's mess.

As an American citizen I'm proud of what my country is doing for those people. They don't have the vast resources that we do, so who are we to turn our backs?

 

[0roo0roo]

oh, u know, when the great satan gives u money..ups ur rep to just plain ordinary satan.

 

[thirdlegstump]

The problem isn't money, it's about preventing these things from happening. We're at 2005 now, we shouldn't have tsunamis or other ancient disasters occuring anymore. These countries really need to work on their technological progression.

 

[Yzzim]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
oh, u know, when the great satan gives u money..ups ur rep to just plain ordinary satan.

lol

 

[CanOWorms]

The US is spending quite a bit on manpower aid. They've even sent an aircraft carrier fleet over there. There is more than just monetary aid. I'm pretty sure the Japanese are also sending military/defense forces over for the aid effort.

You can donate a trillion dollars and it isn't going to help much right now.

 

[miketheidiot]

i'm sure an aircraft carrier will do all kinds of good :roll:

 

Originally posted by: Amol
What is this, a competition?!?!

Are you going to donate more than your neighbor??

So what if it is? Who says it's a bad idea? The nature of man sometimes requires competition to bring out the best in him--for the good and interest of the needy and mankind. (Hello Capitalism ... anyone bidding?)

Frankly, I'm amazed to see a small country like Japan afford that much.

 

[thirdlegstump]

I think other superpower asian countries like China, Taiwan and South Korea outta donate money too.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: miketheidiot
i'm sure an aircraft carrier will do all kinds of good :roll:

Obviously you have no idea what you're talking about.

The ships that are being sent to the area are essentially fully self supporting cities. They can temporarily replace infrastructure that was destroyed.

One specific purpose they will be used for is the generation of fresh water (some 90K gallons per day per ship).

Viper GTS

 

[Atomicus]

Originally posted by: deathkoba
I think other superpower asian countries like China, Taiwan and South Korea outta donate money too.

It was probably China who started the tsunami in the first place. National-Synchonized Jump Up Day in China should be banned 😱

BTW, Taiwan has its Red Scare to deal with.

 

[KLin]

Originally posted by: Atomicus

Originally posted by: deathkoba
I think other superpower asian countries like China, Taiwan and South Korea outta donate money too.

It was probably China who started the tsunami in the first place. National-Synchonized Jump Up Day in China should be banned 😱

BTW, Taiwan has its Red Scare to deal with.

you're not funny. :thumbsdown:

 

[thirdlegstump]

Originally posted by: Atomicus

Originally posted by: deathkoba
I think other superpower asian countries like China, Taiwan and South Korea outta donate money too.

It was probably China who started the tsunami in the first place. National-Synchonized Jump Up Day in China should be banned 😱

BTW, Taiwan has its Red Scare to deal with.

Is you serious? I've always wondered what kind of exacting timing that would require in order for an entire population of a nation of that calibre to jump at the same time. What is the Red Scare?