Compassionate giving.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Shortly after the mind-numbing scope of last week's Asian tsunami became apparent, the top U.N. official for humanitarian aid, Jan Egeland, accused the world's wealthiest nations, in particular the United States, of being "stingy" in their relief efforts.

A week later, with more than $2 billion in official assistance and hundreds of millions more in private donations flowing to Asia's victims, Egeland apologized for that statement. "International compassion has never been like this," he said.

Egeland needn't have apologized. His blunt assessment prodded the Bush administration to reconsider its initially sluggish, inadequate response to the Dec. 26 disaster.

Other nations moved far more swiftly to commit aid money, and even the current U.S. pledge of $350 million represents less than two days of U.S. spending in Iraq. Or, to make a comparison closer to home, it's less than twice what the University of Oregon proposed spending last year to build a new basketball arena.

By contrast, the scale of private giving has been extraordinary, with U.S. charities reporting unprecedented donations. Americans responded to the tsunami disaster with their hearts and wallets - from big spenders ponying up massive sums to grade-school children donating their lunch money.

By the weekend, the American Red Cross reported pledges of nearly $80 million. Catholic Relief Services has raised nearly $15 million. Despite the temporary crash of its Web site, Oxfam America raised $12 million in a single week. World Vision has raised another $12 million in donations in the United States - nearly a fourth of its $50 million worldwide fund-raising goal for relief and rebuilding.

Meanwhile, two Northwest-based disaster relief agencies, Mercy Corps and Northwest Medical Teams, reported record donations - $7 million and $2 million respectively - the bulk of it from Internet donations.

Both agencies have begun major relief efforts: The Mercy Corps has dispatched ships carrying food, water and shelter to stricken regions, while Northwest Medical Teams has sent teams of volunteer doctors and nurses to Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Private contributions play a vital role in responding to natural disasters. Government pledges are often notoriously slow in reaching victims, while free-flowing private contributions enable relief agencies to respond with much greater swiftness and flexibility.

While the level of private giving has been impressive, it's essential that it be sustained in the long-term. To that end, it's encouraging that President Bush has asked former Presidents Clinton and Bush to lead a nationwide effort to encourage continued charitable giving by U.S. citizens and businesses.

Critics of the U.S. response have rightly noted that this country ranks near the bottom of the list of wealthy nations based on per-capita giving. But, as the past week has clearly shown, that ranking changes dramatically when giving by U.S. individuals, corporations and religious organizations is taken into account.

In Baltimore, two young boys, ages 5 and 7, donated all of their Christmas money to a relief agency. The gift was accompanied by a note saying it was for the people "hit by the big waves."

That's compassionate giving - in the true American tradition.