Tsunami Relief, Cont'd
Japan steps up. I think that Japan can really appreciate that this kind of thing could easily happen here.

It was the beginning of what was expected to become a steady stream of international aid for Indonesia and a dozen other countries on the rim of the Indian Ocean, where estimates of the dead hovered between 140,000 and 150,000. Serious injuries were believed to exceed 500,000, and the likelihood of epidemics of cholera and other diseases threatened to send the totals much higher.

As the first trickle of supplies broke through, the global relief effort to save an estimated five million homeless survivors of last weekend's undersea earthquake and tsunami was reinforced yesterday when Japan raised its pledge of aid from $30 million to $500 million, the largest contribution so far. Combined with a $350 million pledge by the United States on Friday, this brought the total contributions of more than 40 nations to $2 billion, according to the United Nations.

We've gone from 650M to 2B in one day. Nice.