Quake donations lagging

Two weeks after the Oct. 8 earthquake in Pakistan and India that has forced an estimated 1.5 million to 2 million people from their homes, Northwest-based aid groups say that donations are far below the amounts raised to help survivors of the December tsunami.

World Vision, Mercy Corps, Northwest Medical Teams and other aid organizations — harnessing the power of the Internet — raised unprecedented sums to help tsunami survivors. They were aided by an international media that was transfixed with stories of death, destruction and heroism from the countries overwhelmed by that natural disaster.

But appeals for donations to the South Asian earthquake-relief effort have been less successful in a year filled with disasters that also included two powerful hurricanes hitting the southern United States and a third that hit Mexico yesterday and threatens Florida.

In a survey of some Northwest and national aid groups, The Seattle Times found all reported donations running well below tsunami levels:

• Federal Way-based World Vision US, as of yesterday morning, had raised $1.1 million for quake relief, compared with more than $12.5 million for roughly the same time period following the tsunami.

• Portland-based Mercy Corps reported raising $2.3 million as of Thursday for quake-relief efforts, compared with more than $8 million for the same time period following the tsunami.

• Save the Children had raised $1.3 million for the quake relief as of Wednesday, compared with $10 million for the tsunami in roughly the same time period.

• Northwest Medical Teams, a Portland-based group, and Care USA, one of the world's largest relief organizations, don't have comparable figures for the same time period following the tsunami.

But both groups report donations are running slower for the Pakistan relief effort. As of Thursday, Care USA had raised about $500,000, while Northwest Medical Teams had brought in $65,000.

Aid officials don't discount compassion fatigue as a factor in the sharply lowered donations for the Pakistan disaster.

They also say that media coverage of the event has been much less intense than the stories in the aftermath of the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

"I think what happened is that the [South Asian quake] coverage lessened before many people really caught up to how devastating this was," said Stephanie Bunker, a United Nations spokeswoman.

Two weeks into the relief effort, aid officials say they have yet to begin to get a handle on meeting the most basic needs of many people who are trapped in mountain hamlets in areas where landslides block the roads.

"The logistics of this thing just make it much more difficult," said John Stephens, a Mercy Corps official who worked on the tsunami relief and recently returned from the Pakistan earthquake zone.

Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com