WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- US President George W. Bushannounced on Friday that the United States is pledging 350 milliondollars to help tsunami victims in Asia, a tenfold increase overits first wave of aid.
The vacationing US president said in Crawford, Texas, that heis sending Secretary of State Colin Powell to areas ravaged byearthquake and tsunami to assess what more the United States needsto do.
The newly announced aid came after some critics claimed thatthe initial US contribution of 35 million dollars was too meagerconsidering the vast wealth of the nation. Enditem
While complaints about the 'miserly' generosity of the Bush Administration have surfaced in recent days, donations and actions at the grassroots level have quietly illustrated the concern and sympathy felt by ordinary Americans.

On Monday of this week, , the UN's chief of emergency relief, said that rich nations like the U.S. were being "stingy" by making small contributions. Egeland later recanted his statement, adding that America's contributions to Asia's tsunami relief was "one of the most generous pledges so far."

The Bush administration has pledged $350 million in aid for the relief effort. Critics have been quick to compare this to the $177 million spent every day in Iraq to conduct war in that country. In comparison, there was a $500 million pledge made recently by the government of Japan.

Independently of the government, individual Americans have been directly contributing money to aid organizations.  Amazon.com placed a link for the American Red Cross, collecting more than $8 million from 100,000 people as of Friday, December 31st.  12,000 donors have donated over $1.2 million to the Red Cross through Yahoo.com.

Scores of International aid organizations are accepting donations for helping victims of the earthquake and tsunami.  Many major companies including Apple Computer, Microsoft, , eBay, Google, and AOL are helping enable donations through the web.