Donations Fall Short for Earthquake Relief

International aid groups are struggling to raise enough money to help survivors of the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that shook central Jakarta on May 27, the Financial Times reports. Many charity officials say they have only been able to raise a fraction of the money needed, in part because news of the full scope of the disaster has taken several weeks to emerge and because donors may not consider the death toll from the earthquake—more than 5,700 people—to be particularly high when compared against the more than 160,000 people who died in Indonesia during the 2004 tsunamis.

Said Melanie Brooks, a spokeswoman for CARE: “Initially we thought there were 150,000 homeless. Now we are looking at 1.5 million. So the funding we got at the beginning was for a completely different scenario.”

Ms. Brooks said CARE has only been able to raise $1-million of the $4.5-million it needs to deliver potable water to earthquake survivors, and officials at the British charity Oxfam International said they have raised about $1.8-million of the roughly $5.5-million needed to aid survivors. United Nations officials say they have received just $20-million in pledges and other commitments of the $103-million needed under its response plan.

See also The Chronicle’s story on fund raising for earthquake relief. (A paid subscription is required to view this article.)