In an unremarkable office building one floor above, Edward Anderson ignores a nasty head cold and scrutinizes the expensebudgets of a handful of private companies.
It surveyed more than 100 councils and public bodies and found most reported pressure on services - with extra costs being met "at the expense of mainstream budgets".
Yet, encouragingly, donor governments have so far been at pains to promise that tsunami-related aid will not be at the expense of existing aid budgets.