THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Or maybe people are just using what funds they have to replace their soiled underwear and clothing. Whatever the cause, Ebola is not inspiring any charitable giving to help West Africa.

Charitable giving to address the Ebola tragedy is almost nonexistent, and the relief agencies that typically seek donations after a catastrophe are mostly silent. “Have you had any email solicitations?” asked Patrick M. Rooney, associate dean at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. “If there had been an earthquake or tsunami, my question would be who had solicited you and how many times? Americans aren’t giving because they haven’t really been asked.”

Ever since terrorists took down the World Trade Center in 2001, Americans have generously supported the organizations that swing into action after earthquakes, floods, cyclones, mudslides and other disasters. Propelled by the Internet and cellphones, which make giving as easy as clicking a button, Americans have donated billions of dollars to help victims of the 2004 tsunami that devastated countries around the Indian Ocean, the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan, and the 2010 Haitian earthquake, among other calamities.

But the Ebola crisis is different, charity officials and experts say, though it is hard to say exactly why. Perhaps it lacks the visual drama of a natural disaster. Or it is harder for people to understand what their money can do to fight a disease with such a high mortality rate and no sure treatment. It is not even clear that providing food, housing and protective equipment will have any impact — or how those things will get where they are most needed.

“It’s just been more difficult to raise money around this,” said David Whalen, chief development officer at Partners in Health, founded by the physician Paul Farmer to help bolster health care in poor regions.

For one thing, Mr. Whalen and others said, news media coverage of Ebola did not begin to ramp up until an American missionary and a doctor working for Samaritan’s Purse contracted the virus and were taken to Atlanta for treatment in early August. The Centers for Disease Control’s first notice about the current outbreak, noting 86 suspected cases in Guinea, drew little attention four months earlier.

In addition, charities initially had little or no operations in the stricken region for which to raise money, and there was hope that the outbreak would be contained.

Médecins Sans Frontières, known in the United States as Doctors Without Borders, was on the ground at that time, working to fight the disease. But the organization saw no uptick in fund-raising until late July, said Thomas Kurmann, director of development for the United States branch.

Maybe if we tell people that if we help them over there they will stay over there.