The people of Myanmar rank second in giving money to others, according to the 2024 World Giving Index. That generosity is now being reflected back by many nations in their responses to a massive earthquake on March 28 – Myanmar’s biggest in more than a century.
About a third of the country’s 55 million people have been directly or indirectly affected, which has led the ruling junta to make a rare call for international help despite an ongoing civil war.
While the size of the assistance is impressive, what also stands out is how much countries are showcasing their giving. Some point to how quickly they dispatched emergency teams. Others compare the amount of money given or the range of relief items sent. Big powers tout the number of naval ships sailing to the Southeast Asian nation.
To be clear, the aid itself is paramount. “The most important task of the Vietnamese rescue force is to focus on searching for and rescuing survivors,” Vietnam’s Ministry of National Defence said on Monday.
Call it boasting or benevolence, however, the response to the tragedy illustrates the era of “disaster diplomacy,” or the use of foreign aid for influence in a geopolitical competition.
Even if the motive is self-interested, it is a welcome alternative to war. The benign effect is similar to that of the Olympics, Eurovision, the World Cup, or the Oscars.
Yet aid in a crisis does more than inflate national egos or deflect from war. Generosity, even if done for appearance only, can beget generosity. People who have received kindness are more likely to be kind, studies show, revealing a latent love for others that reflects a permanence in human loving-kindness.
More than half of Americans who reported making charitable donations (54%) said they have received “extraordinary generosity,” compared with only 36% of nongivers, according to a 2021 survey by the Christian research group Barna. “Giving is good because giving is elemental to God’s very nature,” Barna researchers concluded.
Humanitarian responses to crises are indeed more competitive among nations. The United States, for example, responded to 40 natural disasters in some 17 Indo-Pacific countries between 1991 and 2024. China intervened in 16 disasters in 13 Asian countries between 2002 and 2019. Myanmar is now the latest battleground for such contests in giving.
Much of this aid may seem transactional. Yet a helping hand is still a helping hand. Not only are the people in Myanmar deserving of aid, but also they already know that the seismic power of giving can inspire giving.
