I will not be giving any cash for this cause within the near future.
-There were reports from the AP that muslim extremist groups were "volenteering for rescue efforts" and were receiving large sums of cash, much of which was being funnelled back to terrorist operations.
-Legitimate charities are bringing truckloads of supplies, the strong people rush up to get the supplies while others are not able to get anything, a quote from the interview was "the strong ones get most of it, they will sell it later for money." Even money that does get used for good causes doesn't get to the people that need it.
-With over half a Billion dollars in cash having been sent already as of the beginning of the month I don't see how sending massive amounts of money will help now, they will need the help most badly after repairs have been made and the economy is still crushed, thats when they need us to visit.
-I am saddened at how the media is portraying donations from countries as some sort of contest and how celebrities are shooting hoops and donating organs (tongue in cheek) to "help." The commercialization of this upsets me
-I am saddened that i now hear several commercials per hour on the radio hawking more money to UNICEF or the RED CROSS. I understand the gesture, but to have an advertising campaign where commercials slots are purchased makes me very cautious.
-I was saddened to go into the grocery store today only to see all of the donation boxes usually used for dropping change to help the local homeless have hot meals, now all of that money is being diverted (according to literature) overseas.
-We still have a large portion of our own country that was flattened by 4 consecutive hurricanes in a row. It saddens me that we cannot have this same compassion for our own people.
I don't feel that I am being callous but with the amount of money flowing there, people are getting greedy and the money is not going where it should be (or inversely too much is going to the wrong places). IMHO the best way individuals can really help is to visit, take our tourist dollars there, and then if you want, give money to individuals that can use it. I do not want to pay for the rebuilding of the local starbucks or McDonalds
"Clean-up crews are working hard to bring back some semblance of normalcy to the beach road, however there is not a single business along this stretch that has not been badly damaged. It will be several months before all the scars have healed. The premises of many international chain stores are now just shells including McDonalds, Starbucks, Watsons, KFC, Molly Malones and countless restaurants, jewellery stores and tailors shops."http://www.phuketmagazine.com/tsunami.htm
