Private sector digs deep
By Journalist Emily Smith for CNN
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- While the tsunami disaster has seen record government aid pledges, private and corporate sectors also have proved to be generous donors.
Without the same ability to donate taxpayers funds, private sector donations globally have now topped $2 billion, according to Reuters news service.
This compares with the more than $4 billion promised by national governments so far.
Australia, a country of 20 million, has raised over $100 million to add to its government's $815 million contribution, the largest single government donation.
A charity concert on the steps of landmark Sydney Opera House raised around $15 million and a tsunami appeal cricket match featuring the world's best players contributed over $10 million.
Of European nations, Germany has been extremely generous, donating $429 million from private sector.
With 60 Germans killed and still hundreds more missing, the country has got behind the aid effort making the overall combined government and privately donated funds the largest in the world, exceeding $1 billion.
But on a per head basis, the people of Switzerland are the most giving -- so far donating on average just under $15 per person. The nation of only seven and a half million people has raised more than $110 million in corporate and individual contributions.
And despite their small population of four and a half million, Norwegians have raised a considerable $61 million.
The Netherlands, Canada, and Denmark have also shown their big-heartedness with all countries averaging a donation of more than $5 a person.
The United States, on the other hand, has been criticized for its comparatively small contribution.
The country of 293 million people has so far given $324 million in private donations to the aid effort -- barely more than a dollar a person.
