Jan Egeland, the United Nations humanitarian aid chief, was wrong in criticizing the generosity of "rich countries" and "Western countries" in the wake of last weekend's earthquake and tsunamis, whose death toll had exceeded 120,000 as of Friday morning.

The scope of disaster, which U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has called an "international tragedy," still was evolving nearly a week after the earthquake, and the full scope of other nations' response was still evolving also.

The old saying that people should think before putting their mouths in gear applies to Egeland.

At a news conference on Monday, when even Egeland could not have fully grasped the scope of what had occurred, the U.N. official said, "We were more generous when we were less rich, many of the rich countries. And it is beyond me, why are we so stingy, really . . . even Christmastime should remind many Western countries at least how rich we have become."

When the final disaster-relief figures are tabulated, the United States will be on top by a big margin in terms of the aid given to the human victims and the nations that experienced the devastation. But U.N. and other officials should give that aid - aid beyond the first help that was pledged - the opportunity to be mobilized.

The Bush administration initially pledged $15 million to the relief effort, but the president and Powell both have acknowledged that billions of dollars of aid will be forthcoming from this country.

Referring to Egeland's comments, President Bush said Wednesday that he felt that "the person who made that statement was very misguided and ill-informed."

Bush's observation was on target.