The British public gave £400 million to charities in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami in an unprecedented response to the tragedy, which claimed 300,000 lives, it was announced today.
The Disasters Emergency Committee, which represents 13 leading UK aid agencies, said that the total received in donations was eight times the previous record, raised for Kosovo in 1999.
David Glencross, the DEC chairman, told the committee’s annual meeting today, that their members were mobilised within hours of the disaster and now, six months later, had thousands of projects running in the devastated region.
Brendan Gormley, the DEC chief executive who visited Indonesia last week, said: “This is a genuine people to people effort.
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“The sheer scale of the public response in the UK has been amazing but the ordinary people of the region have also done so much to help themselves.
“I have also been greatly moved by the tenacity and stoicism of the survivors. They are the ones leading the effort; we are playing a supporting role.”
The DEC gave a breakdown of where the money was being spent:
The remaining money for 2005 is being spent in the other affected countries, Somalia, Thailand and Maldives. The agencies are spending a total of £152 million in the region in 2005 and forecast they will spend £110 million in 2006. The rest of the money will be distributed to meet the emerging challenges.
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The £400 million figure is made up of the money given by the public direct to the DEC, which amounted to £350 million and £50 million which was donated to the appeal and sent to the agencies directly.
Mr Gormley said: “The money will be spent over a minimum period of three years. It is very important that we ensure it is used wisely and well and because of this we may need to be patient.”