Mazda3Club.com : The Original Mazda3 Forum - What happens when America needs help

I thought this should be posted. It's nice to know some countries appreciate our help.

Asian Countries Offer U.S. Hurricane Aid By ROHAN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer
40 minutes ago

BANGKOK, Thailand - Some of the world's poorest nations — Bangladesh, Afghanistan and tsunami-hit Thailand — have offered the United States aid and expertise to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

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While some of these aid pledges were small compared with the millions of dollars and heavy machinery promised by Europe, they come from nations with far less to give and are symbolic recognition of the role U.S. aid has played in their development.

The Bush administration has not drawn a distinction between wealthy and needy countries in accepting pledges of help for Katrina.

"As U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said, the United States has been at the forefront of providing assistance to those in need throughout the world at times of crises or natural disasters," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Tuesday.

"Therefore, it is no surprise when the United States is confronted with an event like Hurricane Katrina that those in the international community have responded in kind."

Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries, where millions of people live on a monsoon- and flood-prone delta, pledged $1 million to Katrina's victims and offered to send specialist rescuers to inundated areas, the Foreign Ministry said.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia said the assistance from Bangladesh — a major recipient of U.S. economic development aid — was "a token of goodwill and sympathy," spokesman Zahirul Haque said late Monday.

Thailand Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkon said his Southeast Asian country would send 60 doctors and nurses and a shipment of rice to the United States.

The assistance is a "gesture from the heart," Kantathi said, adding that Thailand remembers the help it received from the United States after last year's tsunami that left 228,000 dead or missing across 11 Indian Ocean countries. Thailand's death toll was more than 8,000.

Impoverished Afghanistan, which is still struggling to recover from two decades of war that ended when U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban regime in 2001, has pledged $100,000 for Katrina victims, the government announced.

Neighboring Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the international fight against terrorism, has offered doctors and paramedics, and Washington "expressed their appreciation for the offer," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Naeem Khan said.

Some 2,700 Pakistanis and Pakistani-Americans were in the regions hit by Katrina, and the Pakistani Embassy in Washington is working with U.S. authorities to provide them with help, Khan said.

In Latin America, Honduras has offered to send 135 flooding and sanitation experts, and Peru has offered to send a medical team of up to 100 members.

A Mexican ship loaded with eight all-terrain rescue vehicles, seven amphibious cargo vehicles, a mobile hospital, two rescue helicopters and drinking water set sail Monday from the Gulf Coast port of Tampico, and the country has set up consular offices in trailers around the disaster zone to help some of the estimated 140,000 Mexicans who live in the region — including 10,000 in New Orleans.

President Vicente Fox said a Mexican Army mission would follow.

"These humanitarian missions are a reflection of the sentiments of solidarity of the people of Mexico with the U.S. population," Fox said.

Even leftist governments often at odds with Washington have offered to chip in. Cuba has offered to send 1,100 doctors and Venezuela offered 1 million barrels of gasoline, $5 million in cash and more than 50 tons of canned food and water.

More traditional, wealthier Asia-Pacific allies also have pledged relief help.

On Tuesday, New Zealand promised $1.4 million in aid and offered to send urban search and rescue specialists and a victim identification team to hurricane-hit states.

Japan pledged another $500,000 in emergency aid, raising its total donation to $1 million, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

Singapore said it sent a fourth military helicopter based in Texas to hard-hit Louisiana, and 45 airmen were participating.

Since the first three CH-47 Chinook helicopters arrived last week, Singaporeans have flown dozens of missions, evacuating several hundred people and transporting thousands of tons of equipment and humanitarian supplies, the Defense Ministry said.
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