The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina has left no one unmoved by the plight of its victims - even victims themselves left with just the clothes on their back, the dpa reported today. After finding his piggy bank in the rubble of his home, an 11- year-old boy from the wrecked city of Biloxi, Mississippi, brought the contents to the Salvation Army to help other victims of the Gulf Coast disaster. In a similar display of selflessness, some of the world's poorest countries - among them Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - have joined the world's largest economies in extending offers of help to the United States. Nearly one billion dollars in aid and donations has been offered by some 95 countries, State Department executive secretary Harry Thomas, charged with coordinating the international effort, said Wednesday. Meanwhile, the richest country in the world, which is one of the most generous donors when it comes to disasters in other countries, is finding it hard to get used to being an aid recipient. When the Indian Ocean tsunami killed more than 280,000 people late last year, the U.S. came up with one billion dollars for the victims. Now the dollars are flowing in the other direction. --More 2306 Local Time 2006 GMT
