Humanitarian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake

Contributing countries and supra-national organizations

Criticism of donor response

Criticism of recipient response

List of donors

Pledged amounts as percentages of GDP

1. The figures do not include the cost of operating military resources deployed to provide aid, and it is unclear how this should be quantified. While some would argue that military resources are already paid for and that the relief effort can be regarded as a logistics training exercise, the increased operational costs are an unbudgeted expenditure. Others would argue that the military resources provide the only infrastructure that will deliver aid in a timely manner to save lives to the hardest hit and neediest areas, and without this quickly deployable infrastructure the other contributions, no matter how large would be useless or arrive too late.
2. The figures do not tell anything about the rate in which the money will be spent. How much of the money is going to be spent this year and how much is reserved for long-term reconstructions efforts is not reflected by this table.
3. Use of gross domestic product or gross national product should be treated with caution as this does not accurately measure a country's ability to provide aid. Similarly, whether to use 'nominal' or 'real' GNP/GDPs can be argued. Some GDP/GNP figures are also out of date e.g. for the year 2002, or even 2001, so comparisons between countries may not be for the same time period. A better comparison might be used by examining purchasing power parity-adjusted GDP/GNP figures.
4. It can be argued, the quality of aid differs as "aid" is an ambiguous term that may cover a wide variety of methods, including 'soft' loans, and 'tied aid'. The terms by which the aid is accepted play a large role in determining how useful it is and also affect the relative cost to the donating country.
5. This is aid for one particular disaster. Without knowing how much aid the various countries and their people donate to other disasters, one cannot draw conclusions on their overall level of generosity.
6. The numbers below are the pledged contributions. Arguably, only funds that are actually transferred should be counted. For example, after the Bam earthquake|Bam earthquake in December 2003], the Iranian government received only US$17.5 million from the US$1 billion of international donations that had been promised.
7. The amounts pledged by individual member states of the European Union should be increased by amounts pledged by the European Union itself.

Pledged amounts on a per capita basis

Contributing non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

ADRA	Silver Spring, Maryland—The Adventist Development and Relief Agency continued its response in India, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Andaman Islands to assist those affected by the quake and tsunami. ADRA set up a crisis command center in Bangkok, Thailand to coordinate its network-wide response. ADRA International urgently solicited emergency donations for this response. To rapidly respond to this disaster only monetary donations were accepted at the time. Donations could be made to the Asia Tsunami Crisis Fund online or by calling 800-424-ADRA. See more information at.
African Union	The African Union Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konaré announced that the organisation would put forward US$100,000 towards disaster relief.
American Friends Service Committee	Building on AFSC programmes and contacts in Asia, AFSC provided relief and planning longer-term recovery, particularly to those who might be overlooked by other agencies or relief programmes.
American Jewish Committee	The AJC established a Tsunami Relief Fund, and initially allocated US$60,000 out of its own account. It subsequently raised an additional US$450,000. AJC chapters around the United States reached out to South Asian religious and ethnic organisations in their communities to help organise memorial services, fundraising events, and public expressions of solidarity. AJC's office in Mumbai assisted in the relief efforts in India, aided by Dr David Elcott of AJC's New York staff. David Elcott and his wife, Rabbi Shira Milgrom were in India at the time of the tsunami visiting their daughter, Liore Milgrom-Elcott, who was volunteering nearby through AJWS.
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee	The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee collected more than US$2M in individual contributions to the organisation's non-sectarian South Asia Tsunami Relief mailbox.
American Jewish World Service	With US$3.25 million raised, The American Jewish World Service focussed efforts on providing direct material relief to the poorest families in affected areas, including providing food, water storage containers, cooking supplies, blankets and temporary shelters and partnering with Direct Relief International to provide immediate shipments of basic medical supplies, water purification materials and oral rehydration therapies to the heavily affected communities in India and Sri Lanka.
Buddhist Tzu-Chi Foundation of Toronto	The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu-Chi Foundation of Toronto, held a number of ongoing fundraising events throughout the city. Volunteers focussed on the Asian communities in the Greater Toronto Area. All money raised would be 100% donated to the affected area without administration fee.
Catholic Relief Services	CRS mounted one of the largest responses in its history – a $190-million, five-year relief and reconstruction effort that would help more than 600,000 people. CRS had more than 350 employees working in the hardest-hit areas in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
ChildFund	Known as the Christian Children's Fund at the time, ChildFund provided relief through distribution of food, water and nutrition supplements. Non-food items such as tents, medicine, hygiene products, clothing, mats and bedding, cooking and eating utensils, and first aid kits were also provided. As a part of the recovery process for children and youth severely impacted by the tsunami, CCF established more than 255 'Child Centered Spaces' in Sri Lanka, India, and Indonesia.
The [Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]	Providing various forms of assistance. Providing US$31.1M in cash and materials
Direct Relief	Direct Relief had supplied 4.6 million courses of treatment of specifically requested medicines, supplies, and medical equipment provided through 68 shipments to India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Somalia. Additionally, the organization furnished $11.8 million in cash grants to locally based clinics and hospitals.
Médecins Sans Frontières	Dispatched 32 tonnes of relief supplies to Sumatra. Medical and assessment teams were sent to many of the affected areas.
Emergency Architects Foundation	Architects, engineers and planners provided professional expertise to the affected populations in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, particularly assisting in the reconstruction of schools.
European Union Contributing corporations A much more complete list of American corporate donations may be found at . Pfizer US$35M Deutsche Bank €10M Coca-Cola US$10M Bristol-Myers Squibb US$5M ExxonMobil US$5M Abbott Laboratories US$4M Microsoft US$3.5M BP US$3M Citigroup US$3M JPMorgan Chase US$3M Shell US$3M UBS US$3M Cisco US$2.5M AIG/The Starr Foundation US$2.5M Wal-Mart Stores US$2M DaimlerChrysler US$2M Johnson & Johnson US$2M + medicines Vodafone £1M Tetra Laval US$1.5M Bank of America US$1.5M Deutsche Telekom €1M Siemens €1M Allianz €1M BASF €1M AXA €1M ChevronTexaco US$1.24M Infosys INR 50M Altana €750,000 Boeing US$1M ConocoPhillips US$1M IBM US$1M Nike US$1M PepsiCo US$1M + soft drinks + water Merrill Lynch US$1M American Express US$1M Walt Disney Company US$1M General Electric US$1M First Data Corporation $1M General Motors US$1M HSBC US$1M Verizon Communications US$1M ING US$1M Qantas A$1M + flights page detailing the response by Qantas. Cable & Wireless US$1M page detailing the response by Cable & Wireless. Dhiraagu US$1M Bayer €500,000 Tesco £310,000 plus £2.8M in customer and staff donations and food, water and shelter materials Nestlé CHF640,000 The Home Depot US$500,000 Texas Instruments US$500,000 Carrefour €300,000 Hitachi JPY 20M Hewitt Associates US$200,000 Altria US$150,000 Independent News & Media €100,000 MTR Corporation HKD 0.5 per passenger trip on 2 January 2005 Projected goal: HKD 1M. Marubeni America Corporation US$10,000 Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation All fares collected during the 4-hour extension service on 1 January 2005 morning. Fonterra Milk powder and infant formula throughout the region Wing on Travel Tour guides set off to affected areas to offer assistance and translation services. National Hockey League US$100,000+. Bell Canada CDN 175,000 + 1:1 matching donation against employees donations. Tim Hortons CDN 1 million through customer donations to UNICEF. Fundraising events There were numerous large-scale fundraising events with hundreds of participants around the world. World Cricket Tsunami Appeal Two of the nations most affected by the tsunami, India and Sri Lanka, are leading cricket-playing nations. The International Cricket Council has launched the World Cricket Tsunami Appeal to raise funds for the humanitarian effort. The highlight of this was a two-match One Day International series between a World XI and an Asian XI. It has been reported on Cricinfo that the first of these matches raised A$8.4 million. Other matches, such as those in late January 2005 between the New Zealand [cricket team|New Zealand national team] and a World XI also had fundraising as a primary aim. Other events MTV Asia Aid by MTV Thailand for tsunami victims. Australia Unites: Reach Out To Asia, a simulcast telethon. UK Radio Aid, a fundraising radio show on over 200 British stations Tsunami Relief Cardiff, a charity concert, at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom WaveAid in Sydney, Australia IRB Rugby Aid Match, a rugby union match between Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere selections played on 5 March 2005 at Twickenham in London Football for Hope, a FIFA-sponsored football (soccer) match played between a World XI and a European XI on 15 February 2005 at Camp Nou, Barcelona. Village Earth Press documents recovery efforts in Thailand and the U.S. Gulf Coast A concert by Sting at Leeuwin Estate in Western Australia raised $4 million for the relief efforts. Tears in Heaven by Tsunami Relief Tsunami Soccer Aid, a pro-celebrity football match at Anfield organised by Jason McAteer and featuring a team of Liverpool legends.