[scratt]

I'm with Capella and Roboman on this. From my POV they might as well be taking them iPods.
Anyone in that situation would obviously take a bottle of water over a bible (or iPod) if given the choice, 100% of the time. (Perhaps at least with the iPod they might be able to get a case of water on the black market!)
I would not want to waste a square millimetre of space on an aid convoy, or a second of time handing out stuff with anything like that. Let them send Bibles next week if they really must have them. But not now.

If they truly have faith then they don't need a book. If their faith is so dependant on a physical item then there is a problem with it. And I can't believe that anyone who so desperately wants a bible would not at least be able to remember some of it for themselves in the meantime.

To me this is yet another of the insidious ways that religion tries to spread itself. It's just in these kinds of situations that Christianity in the past and Islam right now gets a foothold, or tires to reconsolidate it, for *all the wrong reasons* IMO.
The sooner it (i.e. Religion) is stamped out of existence the better. Sorry, just my opinion.

Just for the record, remember that I was here in Thailand during the Tsunami. Perhaps it's a function of the different style of religion here, but bibles were certainly not something that was requested. Instead monks stripped off and got involved helping. Now that's what religion should be about.