So, how much did Saudi give?

It bothers me the fact that Saudi Arabia didn't react until Dec 29th and give $10M donation to tsunami's victims. I mean lots of their foreign workers come from countries affected by the tsunami: Bangladesh, Srilanka, Thailand, and Indonesia to name a few. Therefore I was expecting a speedy reaction from Saudi's government. After all without those cheap foreign workers what would happened to Saudi daily life?

I should also point out that the tsunami occurred on Sunday. Sunday is the day where while rest of the world are not working, those people in middle east are actually on working day! But no, they had to wait until Dec 29th, while Israel and other countries shipped their aid as early as on the 27th.

Thankfully, Saudi's people have more compassion than their government and collected an impressive $82M during a telethon, which is about $5.4 per citizen in absolute terms. Remember, not everyone in Saudi is a billionaire, in fact Saudi's percapita income is about $8500 per year according to Atlas method.

Then, I stumbled across this article on Indonesian newspaper citing that Saudi gave $800M in cash and materials (food & tools). While on Saudi Arabia information Resource there's no such information other than the Saudi'S people and government raised more than $100M from a telethon, Saudi government pledged $30M, and Saudi's petroleum company Aramco gave $2M.

I wonder how do they come up with $800M? Do they add relief packeged from Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank of $500M to Saudi's donation?

So, how much did Saudi actually give?

Property rights & Planologi

Melihat gedung² yang habis terbawa tsunami di daerah yang terkena musibah, aku kepikiran bagaimana dengan property rights disana. Normalnya, bila kita memiliki tanah, makanya hal itu tercatat di badan pertanahan (CMIIW) serta kita sendiri memiliki sertifikatnya. Setelah tsunami, bukan tidak mungkin catatan kepemilikan itu hilang, baik yang ada di si pemilik tanah, maupun di badan pertanahan.

Pertanyaannya: Bagaimana membuktikan kepemilikan setelah bencana? Apa konsekuensinya?

Bila tidak ada ahli waris yang tersisa mungkin tidak masalah, tapi bila masih ada ahli waris, apalagi masih anak², bukankan hal itu amat berharga baginya?

Apakah artinya kepemilikan tanah menjadi milik negara?
Bila jadi milik negara, mungkin ada bagusnya juga untuk perencanaan kota saat rekonstruksi nanti. Selama ini kota di Indonesia kan perencanaannya boleh dibilang tidak jelas. Entah masalah saat perencanaannya sendiri atau saat pelaksanaannya.

Alangkah indahnya bila Banda Aceh nantinya memiliki perencanaan kota yang terbaik di Indonesia di kemudian hari. A blessing in disguise...

note: menurut kabar, data kepemilikan tanah di Meulaboh selamat, tapi di Banda Aceh terendam air sebagian

The Blogger's Tsunami Challenge

Tas of the Loaded Mouth is challenging bloggers and bloggers reader to donate to a charity of their choice. The goal is to reach $5000 $10000.

I did my part by donating to giro555, so if you haven't done it... go for it!

note: on Jan 5th the amount donated was : $8180

looking for someone missing?

Southeast Asia Tsunami-MISSING PERSONS is a site with pictures of missing person due to the tsunami last Sunday.

For more information you can try: http://tsunamimissing.blogspot.com

For victims (injured, death or still missing) in Phuket:
http://www.csiphuket.com
ps: one needs a strong stomach to search the 'death' section

For victims in Aceh: http://www.acehmediacenter.or.id/id/missing/

Giro 555 voor Asian's tsunami victims

You can also donate via giro 555 for the victims of the tsunami.

Make it to: Samenwerkende Hulp Organisaties
Address:
Mauritskade 9
Den Haag
Nederland
IBAN: NL57PSTB0000000555
BIC (swiftcode): PSTBNL21
Bank: Postbank Arnhem,Nederland

As for Dec. 30th 2004, giro555 has collected €9.3 million plus another €5 million from the ministry of development.