To the Point

Massive Global Response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami

The massive global relief effort around the Indian Ocean is underway. Jeb Bush and Collin Powell have arrived in South Asia, and President Bush has asked two former presidents to encourage and coordinate private fund raising in the US. Governmental and private agencies have been shipping thousands of tons of food, water and medical supplies to help refugees and survivors. The major challenge now is making sure the right supplies get to the right places and the people who need them most. Secretary General Kofi Annan says it-s a chance to show that the United Nations can prove itself to an increasingly skeptical world. We look at the coordination of what may be history-s biggest humanitarian campaign, the task of rebuilding and the challenge of preventing future disasters that could be even worse with Doctors Without Borders, US AID and the United Nations. Making News: US Relief Efforts Continue After criticism for slow reaction time, President Bush has upped America-s disaster aid contribution from $35 million to $350 million. Today, at the White House, he tapped two former presidents--his father and Bill Clinton--to encourage private support for humanitarian efforts. Linda Feldmann, White House correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, expands on the President's latest efforts to provide disaster relief. Reporter's Notebook: The Passing of Shirley Chisholm In 1969, she became the first black woman elected to Congress, and in 1972, the first black to seek a major party-s presidential nomination. Shirley Chisholm called her run "despite hopeless odds" an attempt to lend gravity to future campaigns of those the US is "not ready" to elect to its highest office. Congressmen John Conyers and Major Owens, who was elected to her New York City House seat when she stepped down in 1982, remember the political pioneer who died on Saturday at the age of 80.