How much did the USA help Japan vs. Haiti?

Question:

I just remember hearing about the support for Japan for about two weeks.... But, when Haiti was hit (by a lot less), we heard of it for months... Why?

What have we been doing? Are we afraid to help due to the nuclear reactors having "meltdowns"?

Answer:

The disaster in Japan was the tsunami which killed over 10,000 people, not the power plant problem which has harmed no one and is stable other than the cleanup that is ongoing (the tsunami really messed up the site). If anything, the situation shows how safe nuclear power is. Consider that forty year old plants were hit with an earthquake five times the strength they were designed for and yet they still shut down safely. The generators came on like they were supposed to when grid power was cut. Then the tsunami hit and the generators were wiped out. However, the battery backup still worked for the designed eight hours. The problem happened when no new generators could be put in. Even so the problems have been minimal--media scare mongering for ratings not withstanding.


Here is an informative article describing the situation:
http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/13/fu…

And here is where you find current, factual status information:
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsun…
Historical status:
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/2011…

And a slide presentation that describes the effects:
http://www.slideshare.net/iaea/radiologi…

And here is a chart that helps make sense of the numbers:
http://www.xkcd.com/radiation/

As far as helping out goes, there are a number of charities involved, but it's going to help the victims of the tsunami.