Sacramento, December 30, 2004
Sikh Temple Sacramento had announced they will collect money for the
relief effort at their New Year's Eve hymn-singing celebration.
Thilini Ranatunga helped nail a handwritten sign asking for donations
to a tree outside a Buddhist seminary in West Sacramento.
And on New Year's Day, a Roseville man plans to hold a fund-raiser
for Sri Lankan aid organizations at his house.
Little by little, residents throughout the region are adding to an
unprecedented relief effort for victims from Indonesia to India to Somalia.
"It really hit hard," said Ranatunga, 20. She would have
been hanging out on the beaches of Sri Lanka last weekend, when the
earthquake and tsunami occurred, but she couldn't get plane tickets
by the time she finished her Sacramento City College final exams.
The long-term recovery process, possibly the largest humanitarian operation
ever launched in response to a sudden natural disaster, will cost billions
and every donated dollar will help, said Stephanie Bunker, spokeswoman
for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Right now, the biggest need is clean water, and the biggest danger
is waterborne disease outbreaks. But aid coordinators warn against donating
goods like bottled water, food and clothes.
"This is very well-intentioned, and I think they like to do it
because they feel like they're doing something very concrete,"
Bunker said. "The problem is it's a long way from here to there."
Donated goods can be logistical nightmares, costing more than they
are worth to ship and clogging crucial transportation systems. Organizations
can use donated money more flexibly, buying goods locally according
to the greatest need.
"A dollar in cash probably goes a lot farther than five or 10
dollars in non-cash items," Bunker said.
The American Buddhist Seminary in West Sacramento faces that problem.
Sneakers and canned mackerel lie in bags and boxes just inside the
monks' residence. Ninety-six boxes of rice cakes pack the garage. Next
door, bags of clothes, baby wipes and Tylenol litter the carpet in front
of a golden statue of Buddha.
The temple is trying to procure free transportation, because shipping
the items to Sri Lanka could cost $1,500, said Parakrama Gurusinghe,
president of the lay congregation. Gurusinghe lost a distant cousin
and the cousin's daughter in the disaster.
The temple's efforts drew in Kalyani Joshi, who is neither a congregant
nor Sri Lankan. She offered her Auburn house to collect donations. The
temple has picked them up by the SUV-load.
"I just try to help because it's my nature," said Joshi,
42. "You're thinking about kids, you're thinking about women, you're
thinking about all people. It's real sad."
Now Gurusinghe is asking primarily for money to send the Sri Lankan
government.
The regional chapters of the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army
want only money for their aid operations in Asia. And it's coming.
"We've been inundated with phone calls," said Joe Ayer, chief
operating officer of the American Red Cross, Sacramento Sierra Chapter.
The list of organizations requesting contributions is long, and donors
can chose the type that best suits them - from groups oriented toward
specific religions to those focusing on regions.
Ramesh Nagarajah encourages friends and colleagues to donate money
to the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization and the Tamils Health Organization,
both of which concentrate on northern and eastern Sri Lanka.
On Saturday, he plans to host community members at his Roseville house
to collect money, clothes and medicine, and to strategize the next move.
Nagarajah, a bridge engineer, figures his Sri Lanka hometown of Valvettiturai
was devastated. He hasn't heard from friends and distant relatives there.
In early January, he and his wife, a state worker, plan to fly to Sri
Lanka to help out as volunteers.
"It's my people," he said. "This devastation is too
much."