Paulsen on Haiti

Dear Rep. Erik Paulsen:

Thank you for your statement on The Tragedy in Haiti, in which you say:

The American spirit of compassion has been shown throughout history during disasters such as this one. Together, we can summon that spirit once again and help the victims of this terrible tragedy in the days and weeks ahead.

Is your statement historically accurate--or is it essentially a feel-good, fictional claim? 

To put it to the test, let's consider [Wikipedia's] ten most devastating natural disasters in human history, considering the calamities which happened after 1800 and before 1950 (so as to consider only those which occurred during our nation's history, though not during our particular epoch).  We're then left with:

Event, Death toll:
1931 China floods  --  1,000,000–4,000,000
1887 Yellow River flood  --  900,000–2,000,000
1839 Indian Cyclone  --  300,000
1920 Haiyuan earthquake  --  240,000

How did the 'American spirit of compassion' to victims of natural disasters--which you've assured us has been our unbroken course throughout history--manifest itself, in the four cases listed above?  How much assistance did Americans provide in these four cases, governmentally and privately?

Best wishes,

Gavin Sullivan