The unprecedented level of individual donations in response to the South Asian tsunami disaster may reflect changes in the culture of giving in the United States, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

Experts say it is almost certain that Americans' giving in response to the disaster will set a record for donations in the wake of an international disaster. The only comparable outpouring of support, experts say, might have been in response to the Ethiopian famine of 1984. Although totals for private donations are difficult to establish, as of Monday, January 3, eight days after the tsunami struck, the total was about $163 million, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

The scale of the current response is illustrated by the experience of Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services, which normally collects about $700,000 in disaster aid annually. In the week following the tsunami disaster, however, the organization received more than $9.1 million in donations, and during daylight hours donations were peaking at $100,000 an hour, said Mark Melia, the agency's director of annual giving.

The reasons for the outpouring are many. In part, it is a simple response to the magnitude of the tragedy. In addition, some donors say they want to do their small part to change the perception of the United States around the world. And underlying it all is satellite television and the Internet, which may prove to be a transformative tool for organizing humanitarian relief in this and future disasters.

Still, some experts point to the proliferation of online venues for donations and argue that it may not all be for the good. According to one expert, the United States, in contrast to, say, Britain, where a national Disasters Emergency Committee channels charitable contributions to appropriate agencies in times of crisis, suffers from an "anarchy of altruism," a confusing array of charities competing for dollars. "The tsunami response so far demonstrates the U.S. culture of giving in all of its profusion and confusion," said Larry Minear, an expert at the Feinstein International Famine Center at Tufts University.