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December 29, 2004

Sri Lankans in Albuquerque Plan To Send Aid


   
   
   
The Associated Press
       As the death toll rises from an earthquake-triggered tsunami in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lankans living in Albuquerque are gathering emergency relief items to send to their suffering homeland.
    Menake Piyasena, a University of New Mexico graduate student whose family lives north of the Sri Lankan capital, said so far none of the 10 or so Sri Lankan families in Albuquerque have received word of the death of a family member.
    Even so, their hearts are going out to their country, where about 22,500 people were killed in government and rebel-controlled areas and another 1 million or so people were displaced by Sunday's massive earthquake and tsunami waves, according to official figures. More than 76,700 people were killed in 12 countries in southern Asia and Africa.
    "No one in Sri Lanka was prepared for this type of situation," Piyasena said. "It's very sad, very scary. We didn't expect this from the Indian Ocean. We didn't have a warning system."
    Along with collecting relief supplies, the Albuquerque Sri Lankan families intend to send money to the Sri Lankan government to assist in relief efforts, he said. The country is about 1,000 miles west of the 9.0 quake's epicenter near Indonesia.
    Piyasena, 43, said his family lives in the town of Gampaha, about eight miles from the sea and about 15 miles north of Colombo, the capital.
    "We have heard they need food and water badly," he said. "And they have no hygiene now because of the lack of water and other basic requirements."
    Aid groups are struggling to mount what they described as the largest relief operation the world has ever seen, hoping to head off the threat of cholera and malaria epidemics that could break out where water supplies are polluted with bodies and debris.
    Nathan Ming, who lives in Las Cruces, is worried because he hasn't heard from a friend in Thailand. Ming himself had considered visiting the area during the holidays.
    "I was shocked and surprised when I found out about it," Ming said of the quake.
    His mother, Kimberly Ming, said she never thought such a massive natural disaster would hit her homeland. The Mings said their relatives in the region were not in danger.