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