Donations Become Tiresome

Too much of a bad thing: The relatively small amount of money Americans have donated to disaster relief efforts in Myanmar and China may be due to “disaster fatigue.” So far, about $12 million have been donated by Americans to help the victims of the cyclone in Myanmar, which killed nearly 100,000 people and left millions homeless. This is a tiny sum compared to the amounts donated in the wake of the Asian tsunami in 2004 ($1.92 billion) and Hurricane Katrina in Fall 2005 ($5.3 billion). The reason? After one too many disasters like these, people are less inclined to offer assistance for further relief efforts, either because they can’t afford it or are no longer as emotionally affected by that kind of devastation. Said one psychology professor, "It's too much pain, too much tragedy for someone to process, and so we tend to pull ourselves away from it and … close off from it out of psychological defense.” Also, people tend to instinctively fear for their own safety after witnessing many disasters in quick succession, making them save up their extra money in case a disaster affects them personally, rather than give it away to those already hit. Lastly, at some point people become “overwhelmed” and start believing that any money they do give will not make a significant difference, because “the world’s problems seem impossibly large.” The lack of monetary aid offered by Americans to the victims in Myanmar and China is not due to American apathy and material self-absorption, as some critics would suggest. Americans have simply been exposed to too much bad news.