Where's the relief, Hollywood?

Watching the disaster unfold in Japan was like witnessing Armageddon. An estimated 18,000 people lost their lives, and 10,947 are listed as missing as of Saturday due to the magnitude 8.9 earthquake and the aftershock’s tsunami, which towered 30 feet high when it slammed the Japanese coastline.

But it’s been more than a week since the disaster (though the aftermath is still unfolding with the nuclear plant fallout), so where is all the Hollywood support that turned out for Haiti last year?

“Does America have relief fatigue?” Movieline.com posed this question in a recent article. One possible explanation of why celebrities may not be “rallying for relief” is that Japan has the fourth largest economy in the world, whereas Haiti was an impoverished country with a poor infrastructure. American celebrities are all about helping Third-World countries. But why not help a country that isn’t Third World in the wake of such an immense disaster?

The number of people that have been killed in Japan by this cataclysmic disaster may not reach the devastating blow that Haiti endured, but the number of deaths and missing people is still staggering. Not to mention that the cost of damages after the destruction is rounding up to be somewhere in the mid-200 billions.

Sandra Bullock is the only celebrity who’s actually made a significant contribution to Japan. She donated $1 million for the relief fund.

While other celebrities have created ploys, like Lady Gaga’s designed bracelet for the Japanese relief, which has raised $250,000 thus far, and even Charlie Sheen, who has raised an anticipated $100,000 from his upcoming live shows, there is no collective movement like there was for Haiti with Wyclef Jean and George Clooney’s team relief organization “Hope For Haiti.”

There was $6.6 million more raised for Haiti than has been raised for Japan, at least so far. It doesn’t look like donations are going to reach anywhere near what was given to Haiti.

Stacy Palmer on CNNMoney asserted that relief funds are lower for Japan’s disasters due to the fact that it is “less clear in what we as Americans and people around the world can do,” versus the images from Haiti that depicted a country “in need of help and help right away.”

She also mentioned Japan’s wealth and preparedness for these kinds of disasters, which is a major factor in the slow relief aid.

Regardless of how wealthy Japan is as a nation, the death toll and the destruction are still astronomical, one of the worst in history. We shouldn’t give less just because Japan hasn’t called out for global help yet and its country’s economy is better than the Third World’s.

It seems like epic natural disasters have popped up all over in the last five years. Maybe it’s asking too much for our popular rich celebrities to give so much. But Japan’s economic status should have nothing to do with how much, if at all, we give.

For us as a society to think the people don’t need as much help, or that their government can handle it all, would be naive. After the mess in Japan becomes clearer, the real help that the country needs may also become more defined, rousing America’s elite to possibly be more charitable.

— mfiandt@indiana.edu