- Sir Winston Churchill
The funeral has taken place of a Derbyshire girl who was one of the youngest
victims of the Asian tsunami.
Five-year-old Isabella Peatfield, from Mappleton, was swept to her death in Sri
Lanka on Boxing Day. She was there with her parents who both survived.
Relief-
News-
Alert- #2
Jan 16th, 2005
The boy was covered in bruises and mud when he was brought to a hospital in the
town of Kalmunai, a doctor said.
Then Selvadurai comes along with a cat in a straw shopping basket that he is
hugging like a baby.
The cat is called Mani and was hiding under a tree and recognised its owner. It
starts licking his neck.
"I am very fond of it," he says.
In the Honduras after a hurricane it was 'operation central.' In Turkey after an
earthquake it was 'operation Torrent.' In Sri Lanka after the tsunami destruction it is
'operation structure!' Canada has launched operation structure in the Eastern
Province District of Amparai also known as Digamadulla to supplement the relief and
rehabilitation efforts underway. [Contd.]
Children in Sri Lanka whose schools have been destroyed by the tsunami are to be
helped by "school in a box" kits being sent by Unicef.
The United Nation's children's agency is delivering the first batch of 100 kits which
will help teachers to set up temporary outdoor classrooms
Sri Lankan Children Coping with Disaster [VOA News]
The head of the U.N. Children's Fund in Sri Lanka has hailed as a success, relief
efforts following December 26 tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean. But he
warns that much work remains to be done, especially in helping children cope with
the trauma of the disaster.
UNICEF's chief in Sri Lanka, Ted Chaiban, says that in the aftermath of the deadly
tsunami, Sri Lanka has been largely successful at protecting children from health
threats associated with humanitarian crises.
Starts $200,000 Tsunami Fund Drive [Queens Chronicle]
A Hindu temple in Flushing with almost 20,000 members on its mailing list, is hoping
to raise at least $200,000 to aid tsunami relief efforts in Sri Lanka.
“Many of our members are from Sri Lanka and lost close relatives,” said Dr. Uma
Mysorekar, president of the Hindu Temple Society of North America in Flushing. “We
would like to raise at least $200,000. It’s the least we can do.”
Dr. Mysorekar, a local gynecologist, said her society’s mailing list has 20,000 names
on it and up to 4,000 people worship at the temple on Bowne Street every week.
heading for Asia in the hope of helping [San Francisco Chronicle]
Sextus Selvaratnam, 42, of Capitola was visiting family and friends in Sri Lanka when
the tsunami stuck. Now, the assistant manager at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and
his wife are helping a small village on the east coast near Batticaloa. The village had
a population of 1,200, but many were killed.
He will return to the United States next week but plans to go back to Sri Lanka. "The
reason we took this village is it is small and we can help make a different in their
lives," he wrote in an e-mail.
The Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, and the Tamils of Northern California, have
raised about $70,000 in tsunami aid for the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka.
For Vishney, the disaster has deepened her desire to go back to Sri Lanka. "People
are suffering. I want to experience what they're feeling and know that it's something
that could have happened to me."
"The kids in school don't want to talk about it, because it's so sad, " said Ganesh
Subramaniam of North Potomac.
"It makes me want to go there right now," Sophia Sugumar said. "Give (the children)
clothes, give them money. I feel like I just want to go there and adopt them all. ... It
hurts you because we've been brought up here and we've been privileged to live
here."
Santhiya Mahilkanthan, 14, of Princeton Junction, another Tamil cultural society
student, wants other people to adopt children from Sri Lanka -- like her parents did
two years ago when they brought over her 5-year-old brother.
"Some people may think your family is not killed so you're fine," she said. "My life has
changed entirely. I know when I grow up, I'm going to go back there." [Contd.]
CitiHope, the most productive humanitarian relief organization, has partnered with
International Relief Foundation, World Children’s Fund and Tamil Rehabilitation
Organization to assist to deliver critical medical relief shipment to tsunami survivors in
Sri Lanka, one of areas harest hit by the killer waves. We believe this is the largest
single internatinal aid shipment ever from a New York aid organization.
Dr. Kanaga N. Sena, a Trumbull neurologist who emigrated from Sri Lanka 35 years
ago, said the Tamil region in the northeastern part of the island nation is not getting
the relief supplies it needs.
Sena said anyone who wants to contribute to relief efforts in Tamil areas should
donate to two groups that operate in the area. Both are recognized as charities
under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code, and donations are tax-deductible.
International Medical Health Organization, P.O. box 901, Bel Air, MD 21014-0901;
http://www.imhousa.org; IRS tax ID 593779465.
Tamils Rehabilitation Organization, 517 Old Town Road, Cumberland, MD 21502;
http://www.trousa.org; IRS tax ID 521943868.
The grandmother of two children alleged by UNICEF to have been recruited and
released by the Liberation Tigers rejected the accusation Friday, saying the
youngsters were about to be taken into care by a orphanage as their mother was
abroad and their father had abandoned the family and she (grandmother) was
unable to look after them after being displaced by the Asian tsunami.
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