How can we help?

1)
If anyone is interested in helping out the affected people near the Neelankarai area, please contact Priya at 25506284.

2)Donate clothes,food and other essential items: Contact Kiruba at 98415 97744

3)Swaminathan: 9884017767
Shriram: 9884088788
Vikram: 9840084485
Dr. Vijay: 9381015118
Dr. Chitra: 9841512976

They need essential items like non-perishable food, clothing and essential drugs like antibiotics, paracetamol and pain-killers.

4)Donate in Rupees in India: If you are in India and wish to donate to AID-India in INR, please make your check payable to "AID-India" and mail it to

AID-India
Old No 132, New No 242,
Avvai Shanmugam Road
Gopalapuram, Chennai - 600 086 Ph: 044- 28350403, 28115058

Donations are 50% deductible under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act.

The AID-India office will be the central co-ordination place for all activities. Balaji is co-ordinating overall and is also visiting other districts. Others are taking care of efforts in Chennai.

Please contact AID office (2835 0403), or Balaji: 94440 61033/Ravishankar: 9444084910, in case of urgent requests.
-Ravishankar, AID Chennai volunteer and IIT Madras Professor.

If you are abroad and want to donate-
https://www.aidindia.org/aidadmin/DonateToRRF.jsp

5)Red Crosshttp://www.ifrc.org/helpnow/donate/donate_response.asp

6) Prime Minister’s National Relief Fundhttp://pmindia.nic.in/relief.htm

7)
If you would like to send money, please

write a cheque with the contact details to:

Bhumika Trust A/C Tamilnadu Earthquake - Tsunami Fund

And send it to:

Pravin Shekar
Dexterity Business Analysts (P) Ltd
D95, Anna Nagar (E), Chennai 600 102, India.
Ph: +91 44 2663 0063
Fax: +91 44 2663 0079

or


Call Ms Vyshnavi(98400-82793) of "The Banyan" and she will send someone to collect the Cheque from you and you will also get a receipt.

"The Banyan" is a Social Welfare Organization in Chennai. It is currently tied
up with BHOOMIKA TRUST for the Disaster Relief.

You can contact Pravin in case you have any queries about the status and operations.

Please send your contact details also.

Other Links

WikiNews
Strongest earthquake in 40 years hits Southeast Asia
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Strongest_earthquake_in_40_years_hits_Southeast_Asia

Wikipedia
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake

Wikipedia
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake in India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_in_India

Wikipedia Emergency Numbers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_in_India#Emergency_Numbers

The Hindu
The Hindu Relief Fund
http://pay.hindu.com/thrfpay/thrfpay.jsp

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Sri Lanka
Tsunami: OCHA Situation Report No.1

http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/f8bd0416c9d6bb36c1256f76004072b1?OpenDocument

TN Govt. Website: Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund

http://www.tn.gov.in/misc/cmprf2003.htm

TN Govt. Website: Press Clippings

http://www.tn.gov.in/pressclippings/default.htm

Economic Times
Anil Ambani contributes Rs 1 cr to PM's relief fund

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/971874.cms

Indian Express
Lanka says more tsunamis on their way, UN warns of possible epidemics

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=40059&headline=More~tsunamis~on~their~way,~epidemics~possible

Rediff USA
How you can help tsunami victims
http://us.rediff.com/news/2004/dec/27tsunami8.htm

Rediff USA
Tropical paradise islands are worst affected

http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/dec/28an.htm

Rediff USA
Tsunami after-shocks: Panic in Kerala

http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/dec/28kerala.htm

Rediff USA
'Everything happened in 5 minutes'

http://us.rediff.com/news/2004/dec/27tsunami6.htm

NewIndiaPress
'I dragged my friend by his hair and swam, but could not save him'

http://www.newindpress.com/coastalcalamity/News.asp?Topic-367&Title=&ID=IE920041226213721&nDate=&Sub=&Cat=&CHENNAI:~''We~were~all~hit~by~the~first~wave.~I~caught~one~of~my~friends~by~the~hair~and~dragged~him~along

NDTV
Killer tsunami: Toll rises to 24,000

http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=Tsunami&slug=Killer+tsunami%3A+Toll+rises+to+24%2C000&id=15965&callid=0&category=National

NDTV
Govt announces Rs 500 cr for relief

http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?fromtimeline=true&id=65882&callid=1&template=Tsunami

Night Out

Working through the night is fun. Trust me!

Ofcourse, if working in the night is compulsory, it is not. I slept through most of this weekend because there was some maintenance work at the office. I tried reading "Atlas Shrugged", which proved pretty tough and very sleep inducing. On Saturday I helped my friend with some marketing work for his new venture and went for a ride, on bikes, with some friends, in the night.

Then on Sunday, I met a friend who's back from Canada after 4 years. It was nice to meet him after such a long time and even better because he gifted me a pack of chocolates. I haven't tasted them yet but, according to me, chocolates can never be less than delicious. This guy told me I don't look as baby-ish as I used to. Well, I guess that's a compliment. Actually, it is! I used to feel bad in 11th and 12th standard, because I was shorter, and looked younger, than the 8th & 9th standard kids. [I think most girls considered me a kid...too bad!!...That's alright, the future seems pretty bright!!]

Then I played indoor(one pitch one hand) cricket and had some nice chat sessions with my cousin and friends. Main topic of discussion was Tsunami and earthquakes and cricket on Sunday morning at Madras beaches. Then I called up home, and some of my friends, to find out the well being of all friends, relatives and property (the last one obviously, is not my own) in Madras.

Then I had dinner and came to office. I worked from around 12:00AM to 7:30Am (Please deduct 2 hours of gupshup with colleagues, TT and coffee, in case you are calculating the actual effort :)). When I went out at 7:30, it was a new day. It is a wonderful feeling. I plan to go home now, bathe and get back to work. Then go home at around 6:00 pm and sleep(may be try reading "Atlas Shrugged").

The book is a birthday gift from a friend who is a big Ayn Rand fan. Let's hope I complete the book- it is huge(enormous by my standards).

All those who were cursing me for having made you read my apologyover and over again...."I pardon your French!!" :)

And hey, I donated blood on Tuesday!...I think this was the 8th time. The number is for a certain Mr. Sharad Venugopal. :P