Misc. Article

As the death toll rises (67,000 at the time of this writing) and the international relief makes its way in, many have been disappointed at the U.S. efforts to assist the effected areas.

At last count, the U.S. has pledged $35 million to relief efforts, in what appears to be one of the largest natural disaters in world history.
An american couple who were diving in Thailand at the time the Tsunami went over said that they were unaware of the incident, saying that the visibility got poor, and they surfaced. On their trip into shore, they noticed trash, then bodies floating in the water. They were surprised at how much difficulty they had finding the U.S. Consulate officials at the Bangkok airport (who were in the VIP lounge). Then the officials demanded money to get the pictures taken to have their passports replaced. Luckily, they had an ATM card, which they used to help others get their pictures as well, and buy food.

Check CNN for the full story:
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/12/28/tsunami.diver/