Private US donations to aid tsunami victims reportedly passed 337 million dollars and could soon dwarf the 350 million dollars pledged by the federal government, while European governments Saturday marshalled additional resources to bolster relief operations.
The Washington Post said many US charities are raising money faster than they can spend it and are holding some back for long-term reconstruction in response to the December 26 tsunami disaster, which killed around 156,000 people in 11 countries in south Asia and east Africa.
Individuals, corporations and foundations together have donated 150 million dollars to the American Red Cross alone, the group said in a statement Friday.
The donations range from actress Sandra Bullock ponying up one million dollars, to President George W. Bush giving 10,000 dollars, to a nine-year-old California boy who asked his mother to send the money she would have spent on his birthday to children who lost parents in the tsunami.
Americans donated two billion dollars for the families of nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, the Post noted.
Japan, which has pledged 500 million dollars, making it one of the largest financial contributors, will send some 1,000 military personnel to Indonesia in the country's biggest overseas deployment since World War II to help tsunami victims, an official said in Tokyo Saturday.
In Europe, private donations have reached 1.5 billion dollars, according to a tally by AFP, an amount close to that pledged by governments. The Italian government said its aid for tsunami-hit Asian countries would total 112 million euros (146 million dollars).
Speaking Friday on the sidelines of a EU meeting to discuss aid to tsunami victims, Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said Rome had already allocated four million euros for emergency relief and added that a decree would be passed very soon to earmark an additional 70 million euros.
Fini also said Tuesday that Italy was planning to cancel or convert debt worth 38 million euros owed by Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
A Spanish navy Galicia amphibious ship carrying at least two Augusta Bell 212 helicopters and field hospital will also head for Indonesia at a unspecified date, he added.
The Spanish leader said the deployment would cost 6.5 million euros over two months.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and international cooperation junior minister Leire Pajin were set to embark next week on a tour of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, three of the countries worst hit by the December 26 quake and tsunamis.
French Ecology and Sustainable Development Minister Serge Lepeltier will meanwhile visit tsunami-hit Asian countries soon at the request of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin to assess environmental damage, water resources and prospects for a tsunami alert and prevention system.
In Australia, a telethon raised 15.2 million dollars (10.9 million US) in tsunami relief Saturday.
And Madagascar's President Marc Ravalomanana announced a donation of 100,000 dollars for the tsunami victims.