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The Tsunami that swept over the coastal parts of India has left behind scars that would never heal. Apart from the fear of epidemics caused due to de-composition of bodies floating in water and buried in sand, there are many unheard issues cropping. This incident reported in dailythanti was specially heartrending.

A family from Chennai had been to the Velankanni Church near Nagapattinam. And when the Tsunami swept the shores, this boy along with his parents was washed away. After the Tsunami attack, he was lying with other deadbodies in an unconscious state. By mistake he was supposed to be taken for mass burial with other deadbodies. Miraculously at that right moment, Praveen became conscious and blinked at the whole scene.

While this makes one think about the rescue operation’s alertness, we also have to agree that the rescue workers are also working round the clock without food and sleep and it gets tough after sometime. With bodies coming up as they keep digging, it becomes a routine and strenuous. It’s only a hope that such cases don’t happen in the coming days.

Also rescue workers face the wrath of rain and deadly creatures floating on the water. Snakes and scorpions are said to be floating in the waters near Nagapattinam scaring the rescue workers and the public.

If you are in India now, you probably would be donating stuff for Tsunami hit areas of Tamil Nadu and other countries through your corporate houses or your apartment buildings.

Making Tsunami donations to one common place can do all the good for the simple reason, the controlling body will make sure the money and the other donations recieved are shared across with victims uniformly. Hence, I personally believe that all donations collected by smaller organisations should be diverted to the PM or CM Relief Fund which will act as the controlling body in distribution of relief funds to the victims.

Just in case, you are outside India and wish to donate money to the Tsunami victims, see the PM’s National Relief Fund page for more details.

Rupya, a blog on stocks is accepting donations that originate from USA through Paypal.

Association for India’s Development, Inc. (AID), a US-based voluntary non-profit development organization is also collecting donations for Tsunami victims. Donate

The Hindu is also collecting donations online called The Hindu Relief Fund, which can be paid by credit cards. Donate.

A blog has been setup for the Tsunami relief called The SEA-EAT blog. It’s an effort to consolidate news and information about resources, aid, donations and volunteer efforts. [Via Kribs].

Update [31st Dec 2004] – Some more links to tsunami donation sites are added here.

Indian Red Cross Society. Indian Red Cross Society, National Head Quarters. Tele: 011-23716424 Fax: 011-23717454. Donate

American Red Cross Disaster Relief through Amazon.com. Donate.

Children account for one third of tsunami dead. UNICEF responds to disaster that struck Asia. Donate.

World Food Program. Donate.

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NY Times Photo-essay on the Tsunami that hit Chennai and the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu. Images of heartrending pain.

Apocalypse visits Chennai. I hate to believe it happened. This one is a consolidated article on all the updates by New Indian Express on the coastal calamity.

A timely editorial on Tsunami from Hindu – Death from the sea.

Chronology : Tsunamis at Guardian.

BBC Reports – South India struck by quake waves.

22,000 and the count keeps increasing. Diaster Toll – Sri Lanka:11,000 dead, Indonesia: 4,500 dead, India: 3,500 dead, Thailand: 839 dead, Malaysia: 44 dead, Maldives: 32 dead, Burma: 30 dead, Bangladesh: 2 dead.