Relief Fatigue

This editorial from the Sacramento Bee is urging help for the earthquake relief in Pakistan as winter begins to set in there. What struck me was this line:

But while there is an understandable case of compassion fatigue among donors

I hadn't thought of relief fatique, but let's look at the major natural disasters in the past year:

December 2004--Asian Tsunami
August/September 2005--Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
October 2005--Hurricane Wilma
October 2005--Pakistan Earthquake

It has not been a good year and to say that it has been expensive would be a major understatement. In addition, something most poeple haven't thought of, but the IRS is going to be hundreds of millions, if not billions, short in tax revenue thanks to the charitable donation deduction.