Two Tsunami thoughts

This is depressing:

BBC NEWS | UK | Public warned of fake aid appeals:

People donating to the UK’s tsunami relief fund have been warned by police to remain vigilant to bogus collectors trying to cash in on the disaster.

This, on the other hand, is heart-warming, pointing out, as it does, a mixture of compassion and intelligence:

Where did all this Tsunami money come from? | Samizdata.net:

Millions of people throughout the world, I suggest, are having similar thoughts to the ones I have been having. Thus, in this disaster, they have given generously, while in previous disasters they fixed blankly implacable looks on their faces and walked right past those plastic tins with slots in them as if they didn’t exist. Too complicated. Too difficult. My coins will buy too little good and maybe do serious harm. Sorry, but no. (As Kim du Toit, extreme Aid To Africa sceptic commenter here would put it: fuck it.) But, this time it is, maybe, different.

Both the scale of the generosity, and the extreme amazement felt by the Usual Aid Collectors, make sense to me.