Thanks for nothing - Asia Tsunami - www.smh.com.au

Thanks for nothing - Asia Tsunami - www.smh.com.au: "Thanks for nothing
March 26, 2005

Billions of dollars have been promised and help has poured in from around the world. But the tsunami-devastated Acehnese can't live on kindness. It's time they saw the colour of our money, writes Matthew Moore.
Faisal thought he had a reasonable chance of getting a typewriter. But the government official in charge of Punge Jurong village in Banda Aceh learnt that getting any of the billions of dollars of reconstruction aid promised after the Boxing Day tsunami was much harder than he thought. It was certainly harder than getting emergency help in the frantic days after the disaster."