Tsunami Relief Numbers

January 13, 2005

The devastating tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2005 is surely one of the most widespread natural disasters in civilized history. Three weeks after the disaster, the number of fatalities is still not well known but estimated to be over 160,000, with millions more suffering from injuries, illness, loss of home, or the traumatic effects of loss of family. The world has responded with a relief effort in many ways unprecedented. The U.S. has been a leader in the effort, not only by making significant financial contributions but also by providing military personnel to help with the effort, particularly in reaching remote areas. Nevertheless, while the U.S. is among the leaders in the absolute sense, the per capita numbers are much lower. Without any commentary about whether we should or could have done more, the relief numbers provide a good opportunity for student discussion about how generosity is measured, and about whether our perceptions of ourselves agree with reality.

The following table shows the countries that had pledged the most government aid to the tsunami-devastated countries as of January 7, 2005. Important notes: (i) The figures include only government assistance, not private contributions. (ii) They do NOT include the value of direct assistance, such as the military assistance provided

by the United States. (iii) The numbers are pledges, not actual contributions; sadly, in previous disaster relief efforts, many pledges were left unfulfilled.

Country	Aid ($ millions)	% of GDP	2004 Population (million)
Australia	815	0.142	20.1
Britain	95	0.006	59.7
China	60	0.0009	1300.0
France	103	0.006	60.0
Germany	674	0.029	82.6
Japan	500	0.014	127.6
Norway	183	0.107	4.6
Sweden	74	0.032	9.0
U.S.	350	0.003	293.6

Questions

1. Add a fourth data column to the table in which you calculate the per capita (per person) contribution for each country. (Hint: Divide the actual aid by the population.) (Answers, top to bottom: $40.55, $8.16, $3.92, $1.19, $1,72, $1.59, $8.22, $0.046)

2. The table now shows 3 measures of "generosity": the absolute amount of aid; the aid relative to the gross domestic product (GDP), which is the total value of all goods and services produced within the country during a given year; and the per capita aid. Which of these do you think gives the best measure of "generosity," and why? Can you think of any other ways to measure generosity? Explain.

3. Finding the total value of private charitable contributions is more difficult. However, as of Jan. 15, charitable contributions by individual Americans are estimated to have totaled about $350 million. Based on this number, how much has the average American donated to the tsunami relief effort? (Answer: about $1.20.)

4. Using these figures, what is the GDP of the United States?

Looking Beyond the Tsunami.

We can also consider aid to poor countries from the United States. Here are some figures from 2003:

* Total U.S. GDP = $10.4 trillion

* U.S. Federal spending = $2.16 trillion

* U.S. government foreign aid = $16.3 billion

* private contributions by U.S. citizens to poor nations = $6.6 billion

* total private charity by U.S. citizens, including contributions to religious groups = $241 billion

Questions

1. Based on these numbers:

a. Calculate the percentage of U.S. federal spending that goes to foreign aid. (Answer: 0.75%)

b. Calculate the percentage of U.S. GDP that goes to foreign aid, including both private and government contributions. (Answer: 0.2%.)

c. Calculate the per capital amount of money that Americans give to foreign aid, including both private and government contributions.

d. Convert this to an amount of giving per day. (Answers: per capita annual = $77.90; per capita daily = 21 cents.)

2. Based on the given data, do you think Americans are generous or stingy with foreign aid? Defend your opinion. What about with charity overall?

3. Polls show that Americans believe, on average, that about 25% of the U.S. budget is spent on foreign aid. As the numbers above show, the actual amount is significantly less than 1%. Why do you think perceptions differ so much from reality? Do you think Americans would support a different level of foreign aid if they knew the reality?

Comparative Disasters

The catastrophic effects of the tsunami should never be downplayed. Nevertheless, the total loss of life was smaller than that due to many other preventable and ongoing

disasters. For example, in the same month that the tsunami took 160,000 lives, an estimated 165,000 people died from malaria and 240,000 people died from AIDS.

Questions

1. Based on the given numbers, how many people die each year from malaria? from AIDS?

2. Malaria is generally treatable and most of the deaths occur because of lack of available medicine. Effective malaria treatment costs about $1 per dose. Overall, health economists estimate that spending $2-3 billion on malaria treatment and prevention (over a period of years) could prevent more than 1 million malaria deaths per year. Do you think that preventing malaria deaths should be considered a priority by the developed nations of the world? If so, how do you think the needed money should be raised? (E.g., from governments, from private citizens, etc.)

3. Research the impact of malaria, AIDS, or some other disease in poor nations. Write a short report on your findings, and state your opinions about what, if anything, should be done by developed nations.

[We used a variety of sources for this topic, including the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the American Association of Fundraising Counsel, and articles from the Washington Post and New York Times.]