Relief operations update

The previous tsunami warning issued by the government turned to be in very bad light. There was no scientific data to back this warning, and it was extremely depressing to see Kapil Sibal on NDTV (the program X-Factor) trying to justify the wrong that was done. The warning resulted in thousands of already distressed and displaced people fleeing their homes (or what was left of them) only to find out nothing really happened later in the day. Kapil Sibal was actually saying that one can never know about a tsunami until it hits the land mass, and we cannot know about a tsunami being generated even when the waves start traveling after an earthquake. How pathetic.

Onto relief operations & updates

• AID: Contact Information for AID collection agencies:

BANGALORE: Prasanna Saligram (080)3229747, (080)3305156

NEW DELHI: Anuj Grover (98182 48459)
MUMBAI: Arun Kumar (98206 05751), Malini Vittal (98193 52190)

CHENNAI: Ravishankar (044) 28350403

Watch http://survivors.aidindia.org for frequent updates from volunteers from

different sites.

• ASHA: A new blog http://ashatsunamirelief.blogspot.com/ has been setup with frequent updates from volunteers from the sites. A bunch of volunteers are leaving from Bangalore tomorrow (Friday, 31st dec) to Nagapatinam.
• I have been trying to coordinate some of the activities for transportation of relief material from different cities. I have already spoken to a few airlines, and they are, for the most part, very responsive. So, if anyone (or any NGO) needs to ship their relief material in bulk, please get in touch with the airline authorities, or send me a mail/leave a comment.
• A lot of other personal & corporate efforts at collecting monetary & non-monetary donations. In Bangalore, Red Cross has set up transportation trucks every two days to carry relief material. FabMall has set up collection points all over town. See here. DHL has also offered to pack & ship material collected from different points in the city (if anyone knows this information correctly, please let me know).