Wuming78 -
A lot of nations (noticably the USA &, for me, Taiwan) who
announced their aid contributions were embarassingly caught out by
the scale of the disaster too. Sweden was the only one who stood
out with its high financial commitment. But many countries have
significantly increased their donations upon realizing the reality,
so it's all good.
Today's ST has the Thailand tourist authority projecting their
total losses at $871m worth of baht money. Mind you, their damage
is considerably limited & localized when compared to Aceh or
Sir Lanka, each of whom probably need billion dollars for
reconstruction. [That's why I thought it's so tragic to have the
Land Rover guy lost his life in a scenario that's coming under
control, & on the other hand how relatively dangerous our
servicemen are venturing towards the earthquake epicenter &
with Indonesia still suffering from hundreds of aftershocks.]
Lwflee -
Funny how you proclaim being unimpressed & then inviting others
to build your argument for you. Back you what you say.
FYI The NDP is budgeted yearly at $6.3m (source: TODAYonline.com),
so your point is ...?
Kudos to the British for their generosity but, for "context", the
S'pore Red Cross - alone - has raised $15m so far. A lot of it are
corporate contributions, but nonetheless the figure averages out at
$3.75 for every local person (based on a population of 4 mil). Not
impressive enough for you?
"Re The fact that singapore has been praised for swift response,
c'mon you should know that's customary. Again, doesn;t tell us much
about singapore's actualy response." => Oxymoron.
Yes, the SAF get to "exploit" its servicemen for "manual labor", be
it with NDP or the SEA Games. However, the distinction with
humanitarian missions, as they were with Iraq & Timor Leste, is
that they're built around volunteers. Those going over could've
stayed at home instead & continue drawing on the same
salaries.
All things considered, I expect the total SAF expenditure to be
audited at over $20m (easily) for this mission. That's a lot of
money, based on a combined troop strength of around 800 so far. 800
men is equivalent to 2-4 combat units, & if they'd gone for the
normal Lancer or Crescendo or Starlight training then IMO the total
costs would've been around $2-4m. [Yes, it's that expensive to
train overseas, which is why they were fairly rare during my time
but which the defense budget can more than afford
nowadays.]
