Compassion swept across the globe yesterday as aid from the far corners of the earth began to pour in to the Southeast Asian region destroyed by a killer tsunami.
U.S. leaders said it would provide $15 million in immediate assistance for victims of the powerful earthquake and tsunami that killed tens of thousands across the shores of seven countries.
The European Union pledged another $4 million.
Relief also flowed from a host of countries including Australia, Bulgaria, Canada and Kuwait.
Aid agencies around the world also rushed staff and equipment to the ravaged area.
The early pledges are just the beginning of what relief workers believe will be the world’s costliest disaster ever, with estimates already reaching “many billions of dollars.”
“We may only know the full effects of this tremendous emergency in weeks from now,” said Undersecretary-General Jan Egeland, the United Nations’ emergency-relief coordinator.
“An enormous relief effort is on its way,” Egeland said.