BEIJING, Dec. 30 -- The Bush administration is defending American generosity, even as it figures out how to pay US$35 million it has promised to tsunami victims in Asia.

The death toll from the massive tsunamis triggered by an 8.7-magnitude earthquake in Indonesia on Sunday has risen to over 80,000.

    Administration officials took umbrage at a U.N. official's suggestion the world's richest nations were ¡°stingy¡± and said they expected to spend much more to help the victims.

    But the journey from the US$35 million promise to its payment is fraught with bureaucratic twists.

    First, the U.S. Agency for International Development, which distributes foreign aid, will have to ask for more money, since the initial US$35 million aid package drained its emergency relief fund, said Andrew Natsios, the agency's administrator.

    Natsios said the Pentagon was also spending tens of millions to mobilize an additional relief operation, with C-130 transport planes winging their way from Dubai to Indonesia with tents, blankets, food and water bags.

    ¡°The notion that the United States is not generous is simply not true, factually,¡± Natsios said.

    But measuring the generosity of the United States depends on the yardstick.

    The U.S. government is always near the top in total humanitarian aid dollars ¡ª even before private donations are counted ¡ª but it finishes near the bottom of the list of rich countries when that money is compared to gross national product.

    The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development¡¯s figures on development aid show that as of April, none of the world¡¯s richest countries donated even 1 percent of its gross national product. Norway was highest, at 0.92 percent. The United States was last, at 0.14 percent.

    Such figures were what prompted Jan Egeland ¡ª the United Nations¡¯ emergency relief coordinator and former head of the Norwegian Red Cross ¡ª to challenge the giving of rich nations.

    Egeland told reporters Tuesday his complaint was not directed at any nation in particular.

    U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell clearly was annoyed while making the rounds of the morning television news shows. He said he wished Egeland had not made the comment and reaffirmed that the Bush administration would follow up with additional assistance. Enditem

(Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)