01/05/2005

Lisa Hoffman of Scripps Howard News Service reports on "the factors that have converged to spawn an extraordinary wave of generosity" for tsunami victims and notes Refugees International's call to remember other international emergencies as well.

The article notes that such factors as timing, a "simple cause" and the extraordinary media coverage of the event led people to give millions of dollars.

Hoffman writes, "While relief groups applaud the generosity of America's citizens, citing it as a fundamental facet of the nation's personality, they already are worried that, when the next disaster strikes elsewhere in the world, such beneficence may be tapped out."

Hoffman quotes Ken Bacon, president of Refugees International , "We are all transfixed by reports of the rising tsunami death toll, but we can't forget that more than 3 million people have died from war-related causes in the eastern Congo, and more than 2 million have died as a result of fighting in Darfur and other parts of Sudan."

Read the entire story here.