This article in yesterday’s Washington Post talked about the small amounts of money that have contributed by Americans for relief efforts for the cyclone in Myanmar (f/k/a Burma). The article compares these amounts with the massive outpouring of contributions after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami or Hurricane Katrina. As to the reasons for the small amount on contributions:
"Experts attributed the downturn in giving to a medley of forces, including a domestic economy that has left many Americans with little disposable income, a distrust of disaster relief charities and geopolitical tensions."
I sometimes wonder what rock some of these experts are living under. It’s not a bad economy. Americans will contribute in bad times; it’s who we are. It’s not a distrust of disaster relief agencies; we’ll find somebody to give to. It’s not even, as suggested earlier in the article, that "the American people are going through ‘disaster fatigue’".
It’s actually very simple. People are not giving to relief efforts in Myanmar because they do not trust the Myanmar government to either let the money in or let it be used to actually help the people who need help.
There are lots of problems around the world. There is no sense giving money if it is going to be wasted (at best) or diverted to those who don’t need it (more likely).
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