Crippling Third World debt however, is in the hundreds of billions:

Aid in the context of Third World Debt

As can be seen above, generous aid has been provided in hundreds of millions of dollars. Crippling Third World debt however, is in the hundreds of billions:

The Agence France Presse reports Indonesia’s public debt totals some $130.8 billion and Somalia owes $2.5 billion, according to figures supplied by the World Bank. Other tsunami-hit countries have debt burdens ranging from the Maldives' $202.6 million to India's $82.9 billion, Thailand's $58.2 billion and Malaysia's $48.3 billion.

— Bush Says America Will Lead A Global Relief Effort, DevNews Media Center, World Bank, December 30, 2004

Odious third world debt issues are often ignored by the rich nations, or promises to deal with them have often turned out to be hollow. (This site's section on third world debt has more about how it impacts poor countries' ability to develop, alleviate poverty, and rebuild from disaster.)

Against the backdrop of this disaster’s recovery and rebuilding, this issue must surely be addressed in depth. Rich countries, the World Bank and the IMF have already indicated that there will be some early discussions and meetings to see how to deal with this, at least preempting any early criticism.