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The outpouring of private charity to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina and two sister storms now ranks as the most generous in American history, surpassing donations after September 11, according to researchers who track philanthropy.

Americans have donated about $2.97 billion to families affected by hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, said Patrick Rooney, director of research at the University of Indiana’s Center on Philanthropy.

That surpasses the $2.8 billion donated after the terrorist attacks of 2001, he said.

It is said that death waits for no one and makes no appointments. That was the case for the 1,000 people killed by Hurricane Katrina, the 70,000 dead in the Pakistan earthquake, and the 181,000 lives claimed by the Asian tsunami that hit in late 2004, overshadowing the dawn of 2005.

For the year’s biggest religion newsmaker, Pope John Paul II, death seemed to hover at a distance. It was almost a final touch of grace, allowing the charismatic former playwright one final moment of drama before he slipped away on April 2 at age 84.