WHEN there is a disaster the British public are the first to dig deep into their pockets.

Celebrities will, without hesitation, appear on television and in newspapers asking for the public's help. Likewise, the world's music elite will, without a second thought, put on a free benefit concert to raise money for a disaster appeal or to celebrate the birthday of a dead women.

But where are the fundraisers?

Where are the collection boxes, the TV and newspaper adverts asking for donations? Where are the concerts to help those Britons who in the past have given so generously to help those of other nations, but who themselves are now the victims of a natural disaster?

CT Riley, Spennymoor, Co Durham.