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Kids, inmates contribute
03/01/2005 19:03 - (SA)
Lachlan Carmichael
London - The tsunami disaster has triggered a popular response worldwide that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, from inmates pledging funds behind bars and children selling their Christmas presents.
Britons have given well over $100m while Swedes, Norwegians, Americans, Canadians, Australians, Germans, Italians, Dutch and others have raised tens of millions of dollars in aid in each of their countries.
Relief organisations have described as "unprecedented" the public response in many countries where donors included school children, professionals, artists, pop stars, athletes, royals, and even prisoners.
Five British children have reportedly raised £275 by selling their Christmas presents to help victims of the tsunamis in Asia, which include at least 40 Britons confirmed dead and 159 missing.
"I hope it will do some good," said 13-year-old Tom Young from Bristol in southwest England, according to The Sun newspaper.
Tom convinced his sisters Hattie and Jess, aged 10 and 11, and two friends to reply to an appeal launched by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an umbrella group for British charities.
Cliff Richerd, Boy George
"It was awful watching what the people are going through," Tom was quoted as saying. "I heard it could take years before they rebuild everything and just thought why don't we sell our presents?"
British music stars Cliff Richard, Boy George and opera singer Russell Watson are meanwhile joining forces to release a charity single entitled Grief Never Grows Old to raise money for the victims, the organiser said.
Plans are under way to organise a huge charity concert in Wales' 70 000-capacity Millennium Stadium on January 22 in the city of Cardiff, with all profits going to the victims of the Asian tsunami disaster.
Queen Elizabeth II last week already donated a "substantial" but undisclosed sum.
British private donations to the tsunami victims have reached $115m, more than the $96m promised in aid by the British government.
The DEC umbrella group told AFP it would release new figures on Tuesday.
Sold their Christmas toys
In Norway, a seven year-old boy and other children also sold Christmas toys to raise aid money. Private donations in Norway hovered around $30m but was expected to go higher.
In Sweden, two telethons broadcast on Saturday on five public and private TV channels resulted in 340 million kronor worth of pledges, which come in addition to more than 50 million kronor collected over the past week.
The total is equivalent to $60m.
"These figures are unprecedented," the Swedish Red Cross said in a statement on Sunday.
A country of nine million inhabitants, Sweden is one of the Western countries hardest hit by the disaster, with nearly 3 000 tourists still unaccounted for and 52 dead.
Sweden's showbiz community made high-profile contributions.
Joe Labero, a magician, donated 1.7 million kronor, the entire taking of his New Year's Eve show in the Twin Palms hotel in Patong Beach on Phuket island in Thailand.
Prisoners
In northern France, inmates at Longuenesse prison have so far raised $540 to help people recover from the tsunami disaster.
"This is a collection of funds from the prisoners, initiated by the prisoners," said Christophe Blondel, deputy director of the prison.
Appeals for donations have been broadcast on the prison's internal video network. Prisoners were given coupons on which they can write the sum they wish to donate from their prison accounts.
In the Netherlands, aid groups said $euro;26m in donations had been collected since the disaster. Some couples in the country who are getting married are asking guests to donate money to charity rather than give them wedding presents. Others organising going-away parties also asked for donations rather than presents.
Meanwhile, Dutch musicians recorded a song If you can do something and said proceeds would be given to charity.
The Dutch public has already raised well over $10m, according to figures from aid organisations.
Govt to match private donations
In eastern Europe, media reports said Czechs have collected about one million dollars in aid - much of it collected through mobile phone text message pledges - while Poles have given more than one million dollars.
In Canada, private donations had reached US$29m on Sunday, with the government promising to match every dollar raised privately.
Americans were already reported to have raised tens of millions of dollars privately last week.
Australians continued their donation drive, boosting the total raised by five major agencies to more than A$75m by Monday.
Germans have donated at least €30m for the victims of the Asian tsunami disaster, according to figures from major aid organisations compiled by AFP on Sunday.
Biggest amount ever seen
Christian Schneider, a spokesperson for the German branch of the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) said: "We believe it is one of the biggest, if not actually the biggest amount of donations ever seen in Germany."
The German government has earmarked €20m in aid for Indian Ocean countries devastated by the waves.
At least 60 Germans are confirmed dead in the disaster and about 1 000 are missing.
It was not possible to provide an exact figure of all the private donations coming in, but government and other public donations have approached $2b, according to AFP figures.
- AFP
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