Tsunami Disaster & Tamil Eelam
Helping Hands in
Sri Lanka � But When in the NorthEast?
Alex Doss, 29 December 2004
It has come to a great shock to me to hear of the
devastating tsunami attacks in Asia stretching from Thailand to as
far as Somalia. On Christmas day, the beginning death count for Asia
was put at 11,000. Three days later that total has jumped to over
55,000. Out of several countries, Sri Lanka was struck the hardest.
When I turned on the TV or read the newspapers, I did not see a
single coverage on the areas of the effected in the North East. It
does not shock me to hear that the government of Sri Lanka could not
care a less for the Tamils of the North East even in drastic times
like this.
On the following day in parliament the TNA (Tamil National Alliance)
accused Colombo for its negligence of the Northeast. Senior MP of
the TNA Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham stated on TamilNet that, �the
devastation and destruction in the Northeast was discussed for not
more than five minutes during the two hour conference on the Tsunami
disaster management for all Parliament parties called by the Prime
Minister at his residence Monday. In fact the situation in the
Northeast was taken up only after I raised the issue. They simply
not bothered about the plight of our people�.
Several donor countries like the United States,
Germany, Japan, and Australia have pledged aid to the countries
effected by this destructive tsunami. However, in Sri Lanka, where
exactly are these funds going to? Why hasn�t any funds reached the
NorthEast as of yet? LTTE political wing leader SP Tamilchelvan told
BBC Tamilosai that, �international aid is going mainly to the
affected regions in the south.� As of now he is still waiting for a
response from the government of Colombo in regards to the issue.
Reading each day from �fair
and balanced� news sites such as CNN and Fox, I have discovered
that the stories on the situation are mostly revolving around the
South and not a single story on Northeastern parts like Jaffna,
Trincomolee, Batticaloa, Kilinochi, and Mulaitivu. However, the
government of Sri Lanka has the edacity to include the number of
people dead from the Northeast in their overall coverage of
casualties on the island. This goes to show me that Colombo never
has and never will do anything for the Tamils of the Northeast,
leave alone during these times of crisis.
Around November 10th this year, all eight districts of the NorthEast
were under flood due to torrential rains. What steps has the
government of Sri Lanka taken to rehabilitate the people in those
regions then? None. The Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga
on BBC Sinhala stated, �all people across ethnic lines must unite at
this very difficult time.� What does she mean by �united� when not a
single speck is going out to the Northeast? Does she mean about the
South being united? There was another article on BBC in which there
was a statement quoting, �Helping hands � but for how long?� The
question I would like to ask is, �Helping hands in Sri Lanka � but
when in the NorthEast?�
I urge everyone who is reading this to please donate what ever they
can to the T.R.O. (Tamil Reconstruction Organization). These funds
will go directly to the North East of Sri Lanka to aid those who are
not only effected, but neglected. I had an e-mail from the President
of Ilankai Tamil Sangam, USA P. Sri Haran forwarded from Dayton. The
following information is from the urgent e-mail I have received on
November 27th, 2004.
Please make checks payable to TRO, marking �Flood relief� and send
to the following addresses:
Tamils Rehabilitation Organization
C/o Ram Ranjan
8 Wheatston Court
Princeton Junction, NJ
08556
(609) 799-7746
[email protected]
Tamils Rehabilitation Organization
517 Old Town Road,
Cumberland, MD,
21502
Ilankai Tamil Sangam, USA
PO Box 46, Maryknoll, NY
10545
Tamil Health Organization
P.O. Box 901, Bell Air, MD,
21014-0901
(Make check payable to �International Medical Health Organization�)
All organizations are Registered Charitable Organizations in the USA
� 501 (c ) (3) under the United States Internal Revenue Service
code.
Your contribution may be 100% tax deductible. Consult your tax
advisor for further clarification.
For Information on donations and other relief efforts in your area
please contact:
USA:
Seattle, Washington��.360-514 0747
North Carolina����..919-783 7519
Chicago, Illinois����920-907 0911
Columbus, Ohio����.614- 832 2010
New Jersey������.609-779 7746
California�������661-942 1036
California�������626-806 7178
California�������626-336 8334
California�������916-253 3945
California�������408-736 8094
Florida��������.954-335 4236
Florida��������.954-675 6883
Kansas��������.620-343 6292
Tennessee�������615-308 6862
MA���������..781-942 7087
New York�������718-657 9463
Maryland�������.301-729 2722
NY (Buffalo)�����...716-864 8236
Texas���������972-370 2532
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