BMJ  2005;330:733 (26 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7493.733-a

Letter

Deficiencies in disaster funding

Disasters less "telegenic" than the tsunami must not be forgotten

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—The tsunami disaster has been of increasing concern in the media, leading to one of the largest international charity movements, as described by Walker et al.¹ But polemics began in France on 3 January 2005, when Pierre Salignon, director of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), declared that his organisation had received enough donations for the victims of the tsunami, and that their plans for this operation were already fully financed.²

He explained that MSF was still accepting money for other major humanitarian campaigns such as the slaughter in Darfur, Sudan, or AIDS in Africa, and he proposed that future donations received for South East Asia should be redirected elsewhere, after asking each contributor personally.

According to MSF, the funds collected in 15 days for this tragedy were six times those gathered for the earthquake in Bam in the same time or those collected for Darfur in two months.² This . . . [Full text of this article]

Service de Gériatrie Hôpitale Sainte-Marguerite, 270 Boulevard Sainte Marguerite 13009, Marseilles, France drsebastientassy@yahoo.fr

La Timone Children Hospital, F-13385, Marseilles, France

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Smoke and mirrors: deficiencies in disaster funding

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