Fueled by Internet donations from hundreds of thousands of individuals, the outpouring to help victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami is on track to surpass gifts for victims of previous natural disasters, and charities say contributions are even outpacing those of the first days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Americans are donating so much money -- so fast -- that relief agencies say the totals are rising dramatically hour to hour.
By Friday, the International Red Cross reported $47.3 million in donations in the first four days after Sunday's tragedy. World Vision, based in the Seattle area, said it had collected $8 million, and UNICEF received $20 million.
With donations as small as $10 and as large as the $35 million pledge of cash and medicine from pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc., people across the United States are finding a variety of ways to give.
An 11-year-old boy stood in the rain in a Seattle suburb selling hot chocolate. A Trinidadian cabdriver in New York handed $150 in cash to the director of a Jewish relief agency. Employees of a Burbank production company started out collecting blankets, and now expect to donate as much as $20,000 in cash and checks.
A haircut marathon is scheduled for Monday at an Alhambra beauty school. A company that owns thoroughbred racehorses in Kentucky, Australia and Ireland is trying to raise $1 million by auctioning stud services for some of the world's fastest horses.
Each day into the tragedy, giving has increased.
UNICEF's online fundraising netted $300,000 on Monday, the day after the magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami struck; $1.6 million on Tuesday; $3.5 million on Wednesday; and $5.3 million on Thursday.
"It's broken all records," UNICEF spokeswoman Lisa Szarkowski said Friday. "We raised $4 million for the earthquake in Gujarat, India, in 2001, and we thought that was an outpouring. But we raised more than that online yesterday alone."
So much money has come in that charities have not had a chance to analyze who the donors are.
Tim Ledwith, who directs online fundraising for UNICEF, said the agency has not yet developed a fundraising goal -- or even begun to estimate how much could ultimately come in.
"I am a bit surprised to see [contributions] increasing and not leveling off," he said. "The level of generosity is just overwhelming."
