Tue 28th Dec : The Tsunami, Blogs And The Goverment

The Lady yesterday took her flight from JFK yesterday to India for a holiday she had booked. She left very nervous. Before she departed, in view of the current situation, I thought the most reliable place to check the situation for travelers would be to check the British Foreign Office website.

The following travel advice is all I could find there (and on the British High Commission of India’s web site):

Press Release re. Jack Straw’s condolences: British nationals are advised to look carefully at the Travel Advice before undertaking journeys to regions affected by the tragedy.

India Travel Advice Page: Tidal waves have hit India following a major earthquake in the Indian Ocean. The FCO emergency telephone number is as follows: 0207 008 0000

Now, please let me add some context to this information provided: In the aftermath of this tragedy hundreds of websites and weblogs (blogs) have reported very important information that has helped document the tragedy and even aid the relief effort. Eyewitness accounts are  here, here, here, here. People are using the web for desperate requests to find relatives. Bloggers including World Changing are providing first-hand reports and helping to coordinate relief efforts and here. And that’s just a few - check what the New York Times has to say about the impact of the blog on the disaster: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28/technology/28blogs.html

At the end of the day, my girlfriend being nervous about flying to Kerala is one thing but – if all these people around the world can provide all this information in real time - I wonder why the Foreign Office failed to all those British relatives looking to find information about the situation and loved ones in Southern Asia.

After 9/11 and the lessons learned - I don’t understand that governments still fail to see that web as a mechanism to immediately convey important information to a needy and nervous public. Why could the Foreign Office only provide a (engaged) telephone number???

Posted by Guy Brighton on December 28, 2004 at 08:33 PM | Tags/Topics: | | (2) | | Add GB To Your News Feed

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TSUNAMI IN SRI LANKA : AUTISM AWARENESS CAMPAIGN SRI LANKA'S INTERNATIONAL APPEAL

SRI LANKA'S URGENT NEEDS

The tsunami has devastated Sri Lanka - also affected are Sri Lankans with disabilities.

Ten of thousands of Sri Lankans have died and thousands more will die through disease - Sri Lanka urgently needs doctors and medicine from overseas to cope with outbreaks of typhoid, dysentery, cholera.

The Autism Awareness Campaign Sri Lanka are not collecting money ourselves but we are working with partners all over the world to reach out to all Sri Lankans including the disability community who have been affected so badly by this deadly tsunami which struck the island on the 26th of December 2004 and has caused so much devastation.

How you can help in London and USA:

Sri Lanka urgently needs:

Tents, blankets,linen, clothing.
Food - pre-cooked or ready to eat meal packs
Water purification tablets - approximately 2 million
Wheat, flour, pulses, rice.
Drugs: paracetamol, antibiotics, dressing, suture material, disposable syringes
Intravenous infusions - saline and dextrose.
Portable generators.
Disabled people will need wheelchairs.

The Sri Lanka High Commission in London have appealed for donations of the above and donors can take these items to the Sri Lanka High Commission at 13 Hyde Park Gardens, London W2 2LU. Those who wish to contribute may contact Mr.Y.G.Amaradasa (Administration) of the Sri Lanka High Commission in London. He could be contacted on the telephone: 020 7262 6721/020 7262 1841 extension 225, Fax: 020 7262 7970 and on e-mail: mail@slhc.globalnet.co.uk

With regard to the rapid conveyance of drugs and items such as water purification tablets and intravenous infusions, the Sri Lanka High Commission are exploring the possibility of facilitating airlifting these items through SriLankan Airlines to Colombo but please inform the Sri Lanka High Commission the full details of these drugs before and during delivery.

You can send donations to the Rotary Club of Colombo - the Autism Awareness Campaign Sri Lanka are working in partnership with the Rotary Club, a well respected international organisation who have teams working in the diaster areas.

The Rotary Club of Colombo Regency, plans to implement the relief effort in phases in order for it to be effective.

The immediate need is for water and dry food items like biscuits, and canned fish, as displaced people are unable to cook meals just yet. In addition, basic medicines and clothing are also essential.

The second phase in a few days will be to provide dry rations, milk powder etc. as hopefully by that time people would have been moved into refugee camps.

The third phase (5 to 7 days) would be to conduct health camps to prevent/treat any outbreak in disease caused by polluted water and lack of proper sanitation etc at the refugee camps.

In the longer term, rebuilding of life and property would take an enormous effort and would need worldwide help.

If you wish to contribute by way of any items listed above or by cash or kind, please write into this site or phone/email any one of the persons below:
Mario Perumal +94 777 371204, mario@vigilant-security.com
Chamila Wicramasinghe +94 777 364618, chamila_w@yahoo.com
Shantha Warnakulasuriya +94 777 355288, shanthaw_midaya@sysnet.lk
Bary Jaleel on +94 777 300239, mcabdul@slt.lk
Altaf Ismail +94 777 741855, altaf96@slt.lk

Tharanga Gunaratne +94 777 389075, tkg_lk@yahoo.com

You can send cash contributions in the form of Cheques/Drafts/Money Orders as per the details given below:
Beneficiary - "Rotary Club of Colombo Regency"
Account No: 001-003771-002
Bank Name : HSBC
Postal Address : 24 Sir Baron Jayatilleke Mw, Colombo 01, Sri Lanka
SWIFT Address : HSBCLKLX

For items sent from overseas, The Rotary Club have arranged for duty waivers. Please make sure that you specify the beneficiary as the "Rotary Club of Colombo Regency", c/o Bary Jaleel, 15 Cambridge Place, Colombo 07, Sri Lanka.

However, send an email The Rotary Club with your full name, contact details and your contribution amounts and modes, so that they could keep a track. You can also log onto http://www.lankafood.com/ and select the items you would like to sponsor, and pay for on line. Details of items needed and their rates will be published on this site.

Sri Lanka desperately needs help. They say the island needs 1 billion pounds to cope with this terrible disaster. Whole communities have been wiped out. Schools and homes have been devastated and scores of little Sri Lankans have perished. Please support Sri Lanka in her hour of need.


Ivan Corea WRC FRSA
Autism Awareness Campaign Sri Lanka
http://members.tripod.com/autism_srilanka
autismsrilanka@hotmail.com

Posted by: Autism Awareness Campaign Sri Lanka at January 1, 2005 3:41 AM

Nimal Mendis composes Tsunami Song for tsunami victims in Sri Lanka

Following the destruction and horror of the Tsumani that struck Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan musician Nimal Mendis composed a new song. It is based on the unprecedented sadness that the entire island of Sri Lanka is experiencing. The song will be translated into Sinhala and also to Tamil. Nimal Mendis is seeking sponsorship for a recording of this song by an organization such as Band Aid, which was carried out by British artists, that collected a huge sum of money for charity. He does not want tanything for the song. Money collected should be sent to the President’s fund directly.

Tsunami Relief in Sri Lanka - The President's Fund Details:

Name of the Account : “ President’s Fund for Disaster Relief”
Bank : People’s Bank- Head Quarters Branch
Account Number : 204 100 190 136245
Type of the Account : Current Account
Swift Code : PSBKLKLX
Sort Cord : 204-7135
Online Transfer : Facility not available

The composition by Nimal Mendis:

1st Verse

Oh see the foam

The foam-crested wave

Everyone is dying

No one to save

Rising terror thirty feet

Crashing on the shore

Rolling horror on the land

Destroying door to door

Did you need the tsunami

To leave war behind

To come together

Love each other

My child I cannot find.

Chorus

Tsunami Tsunami

Can I forget this day

My hand has lost its grip

My child is washed away

Tsunami Tsunami

From the bottom of the quake

Why have you done this?

Hundreds and thousands to take

The sea speaks to you man

The sea speaks to you

I’m cleansing your sins man

And all of your motherland.

2nd Verse

I was watching the sea gull

Diving for the fish

It caught the swimming eel

Out of the deep

I remembered the bullet

Past my ear with a swish

I grabbed my child, saved ourselves

With one mighty leap.

Give me an answer

You transgressed the law

What is in your mind now

My child is no more.

Chorus

(Words and Music by Nimal Mendis).

Nimal Mendis is one of Sri Lanka's outstanding singer/songwriters. He is a composer with dual nationality of Sri Lanka and Britain.

At present Nimal Mendis is living in France. He had 22 songs recorded in Britain in the sixties and appeared on the popular TV show “Top of the Pops " in 1968 with his own song " Feel like a Clown ". It was with his singing partner Sandra Edema as Ranee and Raj. It was a guest appearance. He is one of a handful of Sri Lankan artistes ever to have made it to the BBC's 'Top of the Pops' television program in its heyday in the Swinging Sixties.

Nimal Mendis was 'discovered' by Radio Ceylon when the station ruled the airwaves in the late 1950s and 1960s. They plugged his songs like 'Kandyan Express' making him a star in South Asia.

One of his songs " Master Sir " has been a popular song in Sri Lanka for many years. He also wrote " Ganga Addara " for the late Vijaya Kumaratunge, the Sri Lankan President's husband who was assassinated in 1988 . He has written these and many other popular film songs for our country’s foremost filmmakers Lester and Sumitra Pieris 's . The two songs mentioned are still played often in Sri Lanka.

To contact Nimal Mendis: Tel: +33 5 45 65 17 66 - nimal.mend@wanadoo.fr.

His son ( Paulmarie Mendis ) contact details: in London. Tel: ( 0044 ) 207 272 5748 - datamyst@aol.com


In Sri Lanka - Varadatta Aravinda -

mobile: Tel: ( 00941 ) (0) 777 749420 -saman_li@yahoo.com

See the Tsunami Information site for further details:

http://autismsrilanka.blogspot.com

Posted by: asiaradionews at January 16, 2005 10:40 AM

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