Report on the Tsunami: Kanchipuram District

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Title: Egyptian paper: Israel-India nuke test caused tsunami
Source: Jerusalem Post
URL Source: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite? pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1104981578311
Published: Jan 7, 2005
Author: JOSEPH NASR
Post Date: 2005-01-07 06:29:14 by r-u-n-n o-f-t
2 Comments


The earthquake that struck the Indian Ocean on December 26, triggering a series of huge waves called tsunami, ``was possibly`` caused by an Indian nuclear experiment in which ``Israeli and American nuclear experts participated,`` an Egyptian weekly magazine reported Thursday.

According to Al-Osboa`, India, in its heated nuclear race with Pakistan, has lately received sophisticated nuclear know-how from the United States and Israel, both of which ``showed readiness to cooperate with India in experiments to exterminate humankind.``

Since 1992, the magazine argued, leading geological centers in Britain, Turkey and other countries, warned of the need ``not to hold nuclear experiments in the region of the Indian Ocean known as `the Fire Belt,` in which the epicenter of the earthquake lies.

Geologists labeled that region `The Fire Belt` for being ``a dangerous terrain that can move at anytime, without human intervention,`` Al-Osboa` wrote.

Despite warnings not to carry out nuclear experiments in and around the `Fire Belt`, ``Israel and India continue to conduct nuclear tests in the Indian Ocean, and the United States has recently decided to carry out similar tests in the Australian deserts, which is included in the `Fire Belt`, the Egyptian weekly magazine wrote.

``Last year only, Arab and Islamic states have asked the United States to stop its nuclear activities in that region, and to urge Israel and India to follow suite,`` Al-Osboa` reported.

Although Al-Osboa` does not rule out the possibility that the tsunami could have been caused by a natural earthquake it speculates however that, ``while it has not been proved yet, there has been a joint Israeli-Indian secret nuclear experiment [conducted on December 26] that caused the earthquake.``

The Egyptian weekly magazine concludes in its report that ``the exchange of nuclear experts between Israel and India, and US pressure on Pakistan which is exerted by supplying India with state-of-the-art nuclear technology and preventing Islamabad from cooperating with Asian and Islamic states in the nuclear field, pose a big question mark on the causes behind the violent Asian earthquake.``

Incitement against Israel and Jews in Egyptian media is usually limited to the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict yet exceptions are known to occur.

In August 2002, the Paris Supreme Court summoned Ibrahim Naafi`, editor of the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, for having authorized the publication of a controversial article entitled `Jewish matza is made from Arab blood` in the October 28, 2000 edition of the paper.

Naafi` was charged with incitement to anti-Semitism and racist violence.

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re: more on the intellectual bankrupcy of the Saudis
http://www.thefridaytimes.com/
Khalid Hassan`s article in TFT further points to the intellectual bankrupcy that has set in Saudi Arabia and many other Middle Eastern Countries. The cartoon in that article shows a Tsunami victim crying out for help while drowning while an Arab at the shore says ``Yor are being punished for nudity, prostitution and immorality``!
Here are the relevant paras from Khalid Hassan`s article titled ``The wrath of God``:

1. (The great Asian tsunami catastrophe has been played in the world of Islam as punishment for the misdeeds and sins of the Muslims who are said to have strayed from the path of God, who has taught them a lesson they will not forget for a long time. Accordingly, they should repent and beg forgiveness for having abandoned the path of virtue and rightful conduct.)

2. (The view that wanton behavior provoked the quake was the subject of Friday sermons in Saudi Arabia and of other religious commentaries in the Kingdom. “Asia’s earthquake, which hit the beaches of prostitution, tourism, immorality and nudity,” one commentator said on an Islamist website, “is a sign that God is warning mankind from persisting in injustice and immorality before he destroys the ground beneath them.”)

3. ``Saudi cleric Muhammad Al-Munajiid explained that God’s tsunami punishment of Christians stemmed from “the Christian holidays (that) are accompanied by forbidden things, by immorality, abomination, adultery, alcohol, drunken dancing ....``

One would like to ask this counterquestion to Saudis: how come they fritted away a unique opportunity to do some good to the muslims of Indonesia during this tragedy? How come much of muslim world does not have any resources or technology that even India has? How come a poor India managed to help a predominantly muslim Indonesia and predominantly buddhist Srilanka and Thailand while Saudis were busy lecturing the world about morality?
Fifty years from now, new players will be calling the shot. Saudis may be sure that India will be one such player. Nothing is forgotten or forgiven. The atrocities perpetrated on the ``dark skinned`` indian maids, workers in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries has penetrated the Indian psyche. When India can take on these barbarians, it will be time to put oil (or whatever remains of it) down the collective Arabian rectum and bang it in with huge Indian phallus. I hope to be alive to see that day.
sridhar

sadna # 23

fishermen make decent money in tamilnadu
i doubt people will get over the trauma of tsunami anytime soon.

http://www.sulekha.com/news/nhc.aspx?cid=412774
(Toronto Daily Star)

India`s raging internal storm
Martin Regg Cohn finds the fishing villages of Tamil Nadu wracked by waves of guilt and despair

MARTIN REGG COHN
ASIA BUREAU

DEVANAMPATTINAM, India-After the tsunami comes the storm — a welling up of emotions and grief that devastates the psyche.

The physical scars etched into India`s southeastern shoreline — the razed houses and ravaged boats — are healing slowly.

But the mental scars run deeper, destined to endure long after the rebuilding is done and the fishing resumes.

For villagers in the east coast state of Tamil Nadu, which bore the brunt of the devastation on India`s mainland, the grief isn`t going away.

Three weeks after tidal waves drowned her two children, Kalayvani Nagaraj still can`t fathom how to cope with the loss.

She huddles within the plastered walls of her sister`s home, crying incessantly, shunning daylight, declining food, unable to sleep.

It`s not just the tsunami that torments her, nor the guilt she feels for surviving.

Nagaraj bears the crushing burden of having heeded the best advice of health care workers after the birth of her second child in 2002: She had her tubes tied.

``As soon as my boy was born, I did it,`` she says softly.

Today, wondering whether the operation can be reversed, the petite 24-year-old is despondent, blaming herself for being unable to bear any more babies to replace her lost progeny.

``I am unable to recover,`` she whispers in the shadows of her sister`s home, covering her mouth with the folds of her rust-coloured sari.

``I wonder why I should live. Even now, I wish that I could have died and my children survived,`` she laments, large eyes downcast, now biting her nails.

``Even if I try to eat, the food gets stuck in my throat.``

Her husband, Prabhu, a brawny 28-year-old fisherman, bundled the whole family into his boat when he saw the giant waves approaching their beachfront home. But the boat capsized in the chaos and the children couldn`t swim.

Now, the parents spend their days bemoaning their fate.

Heartsick.

Their girl, Roshini, was 3 1/2. Their boy, Danesh, was 2.

``Whatever we did, our children were always with us — they were our support,`` Nagaraj continues.

``My children were my life, and now both of them are gone.``

More than 10,000 people died and 5,000 are still missing across India, with an estimated 2.7 million Indians affected directly. But statistics don`t tell the story.

It`s not just the loss of life and livelihood, but losing the will to live, that afflicts this state.

Many survivors are simply at a loss about how to get on with their lives.

Newly orphaned children are in shock over losing their parents. Parents are still lamenting the loss of their children.

Mental health workers say that women and children are the most severely affected.

It`s easier for men to immerse themselves in reconstruction, while women often remain behind in their villages, surrounded by reminders of what they once had.

``We fear that if this continues, they will have severe mental depression,`` warns Karoline Davis, who specializes in gender and development issues for the World Vision aid organization.

``Men can distract themselves with work and fun, with friends and drinking,`` she says after visiting survivors across Tamil Nadu last week. ``They get rid of their feelings that way.``

Women are often weighed down by ``shame and guilt,`` especially those who couldn`t find their children after being engulfed by the waves.

`Children and women are the target, because men are not open to it. They don`t grieve openly, it`s difficult to get through to them`

Deepali Kapoor, psychologist

``They sit with vacant expressions,`` says Davis. ``They can`t work out and express their grief.``

Orphaned siblings are overwhelmed by their new circumstances, with the eldest ``holding the young ones tightly so that no one would take them away from them.``

Aid workers have tried to encourage a catharsis by invoking traditional Hindu rituals on the seashore, hoping that survivors might ventilate their pent-up grief. But the early results are not encouraging.

Many survivors remain suicidal. Widows who must become breadwinners to support their children are simply giving up.

Relief officials from the government and international aid groups are responding to the crisis with an unprecedented wave of counselling and support services.

In a local culture where people are used to doing things rather than talking about things, this represents a special challenge.

But even the villagers realize they need help to overcome psychological paralysis.

``They are open to it, because they`re now in a state of shock, they`re numb,`` says psychologist Deepali Kapoor.

``Children and women are the target, because men are not open to it — they don`t grieve openly, it`s difficult to get through to them.

``Children don`t have the coping strategies, but men can go back to work.``

Outsiders like Kapoor, who is based in New Delhi, plan to train local Tamil-speaking counsellors in the art of listening — allowing survivors to articulate their feelings and come to terms with their grief.

Child-protection committees and self-help groups are springing up to try to provide continuing support.

In the surrounding district of Cuddalore, just south of the old French colonial outpost of Pondicherry, the rebuilding is moving at a breakneck pace.

Backhoes are clearing the rubble and heavy cranes are hoisting upturned fishing boats back into the water in this once-prosperous village. Across the state, 50,000 thatched-roof huts are being built for refugees. Compensation has already been paid out.

Yet for all of India`s experience in dealing with natural disasters — earthquakes, cyclones, droughts — this one is different. The tsunami has terrified people like nothing else ever has.

``As soon as the tsunami came, we asked for these persons (counsellors) to come, after seeing the enormity of the problem,`` says D. Jaganathan, local project officer for the government`s Rural Development Agency.

``Normally in our society, women and adolescent girls are very tender-hearted, their feelings are very high, so counsellors will first attend to the women who lost family members.``

Still, Jaganathan`s task is not just to calm troubled waters but also to get fishing boats back into the sea to revive the local economy.

In his district alone, 7,000 boats were destroyed — grounding countless fishermen.

People are being reimbursed for property damage and compensated for the loss of family members.

But charity is no easy thing in the coastal villages of Tamil Nadu, where the fishermen are proud of their success at sea. A typical boat could generate hundreds of dollars in cash flow daily for its crew.

Accustomed to fending for themselves, the fishermen felt humiliated by offers of second-hand clothing.

``Fisher folk were doing well in their business, so when the clothing was distributed they said, `We don`t want your cast-offs,``` recalls Edwin Pankiraj, a financial officer for World Vision.

``At first, they just wanted their boats back. They had become paupers, but they just couldn`t accept it — they had a mental block,`` he explains. ``Now, they`re accepting reality.``

A World Vision truck has pulled up at the beach to distribute dry rations — oil, rice, lentils, toothpaste, clothing and blankets — among local fishermen and their families.

But the NGO is covering all its bases, supplementing the relief work with longer-term recovery plans to supply replacement boats at no cost to the fishing fleet.

Survival is what motivates Prabhu Nagaraj, the fisherman who lost his two young children.

He spends his days mending nets and repairing battered boats in the village.

The government has awarded 200,000 rupees ($5,500) as compensation for the deaths, but it will never make up for the loss.

``Above all, I have lost my precious children, so whatever the government gives me won`t be compensation,`` he says, eyes watering. ``Even if I lose my life in the sea, I will surely go back to fishing, because that`s the only thing I know.``

Fishing, and being a father.

Harimau,

This was really neat and a very good read.

re: Bankrupcy of the Saudis

http://www.sulekha.com/news/nhc.aspx?cid=412668
Go to the above Url to find out how much the Saudis have given for Tsunami relief. Pittance. This brings to the fore an important question: should muslims continue to regard Saudi Arabia as its spiritual mentor when that country has not done anything to help the muslims in need during this tragedy? It is time to question the overriding role played by Saudi Arabia in preaching the extreme version of Islam. What is more important? Mere words or deeds?
Sridhar

For those who wanted to know what else is going on as aid efforts hit their stride:

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20050124&fname=CTsunami&sid=1

Looking forward to part 2, Harimau.

i like this article..street level reportage (biases and all) major contrast than a ferzana-type article written by reading other articles. on mamalipuram rd, there was an awful place called the Golden Beach. this place had some larger than life plaster-of-paris statues of scary things..(like a 25 ft woman playing a 40 ft veena). i hope this abomonation got washed off in the tsunami.

one legend on mahabalipuram temple.. it is supposed to have been built as a show-off to ward off sea-faring adventurers (and religion spreaders).

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hp #14
Kolachal is very far away from chennai and is in the west coast and not in the east coast. It is very close to Trivandrum, the capital of kerala.
kolachal and nearby affected places including kaidapattinam, melmanakkudi, , rajackamangalm, muttathura all received voluminous support first and foremost from their immediate neighbors including nagercoil, thengaipattinam, thothoor,eraniel etc. Kolachal people initially staged varous tharnas and will not let any VIP inside (Time of India called them ``Very Insensitive Person``) because they felt that the district collector was more focused on taking care of a visiting supreme court judge immediately after the tsunami.

The only VIP who came to koalachal and apparently assuaged them was PM Manmohan Sing himself.

The relief efforst are already in full swing and in the second stage i.e. building/repairing schools/houses and boats and most importantly getting the fisherman back onto their jobs.

I may have had a couple of shots this Saturday evening, but Harimau there are couple of things that really bug me about this article.

1. You live in Chennai, have followed the tsunami disaster and most likely are involved with the relief effort yet you didn’t know where the real impact was? Granted, most impacted towns were anywhere from 70 to 200 miles or KM from Chennai, Still, those names are so much in the news that you ought to have known worst affected areas before you set out to find out for yourself. Are you sure you drove out not knowing where the waves struck the most? What were you thinking when you “decided to investigate the tsunami on our own.”

Do Nagappattinam, Tarangambad, Karaika, Kolachal and Kalpakkam ring a bell for you?

2. It sounds like you are trying to put down poor folks, who were probably trying to scam some apparently naïve people who did not even know where the tsunami disaster was. I agree that their attempts were pathetic as you and your driver caught on to them fairly quickly.

“I told my brother to hightail it out of the place fast as we were being taken for a ride.”

I don’t know I may be too naive here but what would have been a polite thing to do?

A) Ensure that every body who reads the article knows that poor villagers were scam artists and tsunami hadn’t hurt them at all or
B) Just leave it at that as you still had TV stations, Newspapers, state government and the central government to pick on.

Sorry, if you find me too blunt!

http://www.newindpress.com

Farewell to fear: Ministers take to sea with fishermen
Sunday January 16 2005 00:00 IST

KANCHEEPURAM: In an effort to ward off the fear of the sea among the fishermen following the December 26 tsunami, ministers along with senior officials from the Kancheepuram district administration travelled with the fishermen off the Mahabalipuram coast on Saturday.

Finance Minister C Ponnaiyan and Textile and Handlooms Minister V Somasundaram along with Collector R Venkatesan and a host of other officials travelled in two boats for about an hour to help the fishermen. There, the fishermen told minister Somasundaram that the terrain had changed following the tsunami and that quality edible fish were not available.

The fishermen added that fish were usually found along shallow places where the ground was damp. But with the change, edible fish had gone away, they lamented. Fisherman also said that if they had to go to fishing, it would only be a futile exercise as it would take many months for the fish to return.

The ministers also distributed cheques for Rs 1,000 each to about 25 fishermen whose nets were damaged in the tsunami. And, in Nemilikuppam area, relief materials worth Rs 8,000 were given to about 45 fishermen families.

Actions speak louder than words. Your efforts in being an active participant in the relief effort show that you not only talk the talk but also walk the walk.

Good reporting, harimou!

Hope you will report from further south where the damage is supposed to be more severe.

Harimau sahab,

Thanks for the write-up. I read in the newspaper a few days ago that some of the larger Indian cities are now empty of their beggars as that tribe has now migrated to the disaster areas in its search for handouts.

Isn`t Kanchipuram where they make the saris?

Harimau, thanks for the write-up.

I have a couple of questions for you....

Last August, I spent a week at Stirling resorts on the beach at Mahabalipuram. It is within a stone`s throw of the beach temple. Which means that it is right on the beach but it is atleast 200 + meters inland. In the course of my stay there a lot of the staff became good friends. I was hoping you would tell me what happened to that resort. Hopefully they landed on their feet.

There were a row of shops just behind the beach temple that sold stone carvings. I hope they made out ok too. And finally, I took a couple of rides in a catamaran from the beach a little distance away from the beach temple towards Madras. I went to see the tops of the submerged temples. Hope that community made out ok too.

The staff at the hotel needed to make photo IDs and I helped out by taking close to 100 photos in my digital camera and putting it on a CD for them. I still have them I also have more than 500 photos of Mahabalipuram. I keep looking at them and it makes me very sad

Well done, Harimau. Do you think the people you met might benefit from people helping them to process their trauma? I think there will be widespread Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

I heard that reconstruction work is held up in places where the government wants to settle the fishermen 1 mile away from the sea but the fishermen want to rebuild in the old locations, ie, closer to the sea.

re: #2 by Dalit

Do not hide behind ``Dalit`` name.
I dare you to ask ``http://www.stopfundinghate.org`` to write article about groups such as WorldHelp. Everyone knows what intentions the Chirstian missionaries have in poor and illiterate tribal areas. Why all these attacks happen on Christian missionaries rather than just a common Christian who is leading his normal life. As a secular country every person has a right to practice his religion. But this provision has been shamelessly used as a front to proselytize poor, illiterate people. This leads to confrontation. These missionaries have taken undue advantage of the constitution and have openly declared that converting hindus to christianity is their right.
Indinesian imams have warned such groups to refrain from any conversion activities during distributuing relief supplies. Also, read this:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10647-2005Jan14.html

``Last weekend, WorldHelp launched an urgent fundraising appeal among evangelical Christians in the United States. ``The Aceh people strongly and even violently oppose other religions. They are unreached with the gospel,`` the group said on its Web site. ``If we can place [the Muslim orphans] in a Christian children`s home, their faith in Christ could become the foothold to reach the Aceh people.``

The Rev. Vernon Brewer, president of WorldHelp, which is based in Forest, Va., told The Washington Post on Tuesday that his group had raised $70,000 and hoped to collect $350,000 more. He said the children had already been airlifted to Jakarta with the permission of the Indonesian government, which he said had been ``explicitly`` told that the children would be raised in a Christian environment. ``

Great to get a factual, first hand account from one of chowks own of the after affects of the tsunami. Thanks. Hope you write up on the rest of your visit as well.

Does Kanchipuram district have a coastline ?

`` Watching TV news in Tamil Nadu is like watching a soap opera. The current government is the ultimate in apathy, incompetence and villainy if you watch Sun-TV, the mouthpiece of the DMK party. On the other hand, it is the best administration and one which cares for the poor and downtrodden people and upholds law and order irrespective of rank if you watch Jaya-TV which is owned by no less than Jayalalitha Jeyaram, the current chief minister of the state. The truth is not even in the middle of these two extremes since both of them use their power to propagate myths about one another. It is thus that I got to distrust TV news in Tamil, which is practically the monopoly today of these two competing parties. One could of course watch Doordarshan which propagates the third myth that the Central Government is the most benevolent administration in the whole wide world when not singing the praises of Manmohan Singh and his coterie of people with less than stellar reputations. ``

What is the beef with party owned mouthpieces ? I found them entertaining. In USA you have the National Review, Heritage Foundation etc.

nice writeup..

But I think ``Cuddalore`` and ``Nagapattinam`` are the worst affected districts. don`t know if you had been there..maybe you`d have found bigger impacts there..

one interesting news item in this tragedy is that the Tsunami has brought tonnes of new Titanium deposits along the TN coastline.. hope mining that will offset the financial damages..

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``It is thus that I got to distrust TV news in Tamil, which is practically the monopoly today of these two competing parties...``

True. It`s disgusting.. looks like Raj TV had its news programme and was arm-twisted by the IT minister for it`s competing with Sun TV and now got its license revoked.. don`t know if Vijay TV has a news programme.

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``The news reporting by the print media is equally bad. The DMK through several of its bigwigs controls a string of newspapers and magazines which publish stories that do not have the most tenuous link with truth. ..``

I disagree.... except a few I think the rest of the print media are not biased..

Harimau:

thanks for the informative write up

also grateful thanks for not going duracell on the Great Leader whatever... a subject that (i suspect) does not interest most chowkies...must be your private obsession with soysauce;)

rgds

t

tsunami aside... which is tragedy of grave magnitude with which we still haven`t managed to come to grips with pyschologically as human beings...

The best thing, as an outsider, that I like about India is the situation described by Harimau in the first paragraph. Sadly the political parties in Pakistan are not so developed as to invest in mouthpieces whether in print of electronic media... those days have long gone... after the banning of all political parties in 1958, the original mouthpieces ceased to be mouthpieces... so Dawn and Pakistan Times became Newspapers.. today the private channels GEO, ARY channels, Indus Network of channels, Uniplus, APNA, etc are all channels that take a neutral stance on politics... though they tend to be more critical of the government than the state owned PTV...

It is a shame really... I think Political Parties owning Mouthpieces would make TV much more entertaining.

CSFH Warns Against Hate Groups Exploiting Tsunami Crisis --
GIVE WELL, GIVE WISELY!
CSFH Urges Responsible Giving in the Wake of Tsunami Tragedy

Friends,

It is time to give and give generously. As the death toll climbs past 150,000 and the world comes to grips with the devastation caused by the deadly Indian Ocean tsunamis, numerous organizations across Asia are stepping up to organize relief and rehabilitation. We at the Campaign to Stop Funding Hate (CSFH) urge all individuals in the U.S. and elsewhere to support them by donating generously.

However, our responsibility does not end with giving. It is also our combined responsibility to ensure that our funds do not end up in sectarian hands, and that this tragedy does not turn into another opportunity for communal groups to gain foothold in our plural society.

KEEPING ACCOUNTABILITY, SOCIAL JUSTICE ON THE AGENDA

The response to the tsunami tragedy in the US has been heartening, with hundreds of dedicated volunteers making enormous effort to raise resources for relief operations in India and elsewhere. Many of these groups have a long history of carrying out grass-roots, non-sectarian development work in India, and have been able to effectively mobilize their networks at this time to administer relief. They can be counted upon for working closely with affected communities in a transparent and accountable manner. The immense loss of life in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand, makes it incumbent on us to consider giving to our suffering Asian neighbors, either through transnational organizations or through informal networks of local community-based organizations. (See below for a partial list of such organizations).

Many of us are also members of a variety of linguistic, regional and cultural associations. Because of their social and cultural affinities, such organizations are well equipped to intervene in on the ground activities. Precisely because of these reasons, sectarian groups try to use them as vehicles to advance their own agendas. We therefore urge you all to not only take an active part in the fund raising activities of these organizations but also be involved in discussions on how and where the funds are to be used. Disasters of this kind are occasions when we should be on high alert to keep social justice at the top of the agenda.

STAY CLEAR OF SECTARIAN GROUPS SUCH AS IDRF, HSS, SEWA INTERNATIONAL AND VHPA

Please remember the lessons of past natural calamities: Latur earthquake in 1993, Orissa cyclone in 1999 and the massive earthquake that shook Gujarat in 2001. Sectarian groups in the guise of non profits have swooped in on these areas engulfed in tragedy (funded in large part by unsuspecting donors in the US) and established their presence in the grief-stricken communities on the pretext of providing relief. Not only did this lead to unequal disbursement of relief among various communities, but it also caused further fracturing of these struggling communities along lines of caste and religion.

This time too, the India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF), Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), Sewa International and Vishwa Hindu Parishad-America (VHPA) have all put out appeals for Tsunami relief. CSFH has done extensive research on these groups and traced their linkages to the parent organization in India: the violent and anti-minority Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). (See http://www.stopfundinghate.org for details.) Affiliates of this organization have been implicated by numerous national and international human rights groups as having engineered the anti-Muslim Gujarat pogroms in 2002 and the anti-Christian violence in 1998-2000. RSS itself is a secretive organization, openly sectarian in its operations, and is not legally permitted by the Government of India to accept funds from abroad; consequently, its US affiliates (IDRF, HSS etc.) are raising funds for organizations like Sewa Bharati, Jana Sankshema Samiti and Vivekananda Kendra in India, all of which are intrinsic parts of RSS operations in India and follow its divisive ideology.

We urge everyone to make the responsible choice in favor of supporting secular groups with a long-standing commitment to the pluralistic ethos and democratic ideals of India. On our part, we are following up on our work of the past several years some of which is documented at http://www.stopfundinghate.org . We will be happy to assist you with any information and would really appreciate it if you will alert us to the debates and discussions that you are involved in by emailing us at info@stopfundinghate.org

We are building a FAQ to be posted on our site and it will be helpful to know the kinds of questions being raised. Meanwhile, please feel free to use the list below as a starting point to identify the kind of organizations that are worthy of support.

Thank you
CSFH (http://www.stopfundinghate.org)

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A partial list of non-sectarian, grassroots groups involved in relief operations:

1. AID - Association for India’s Development
http://www.aidindia.org/CMS/

2. American India Foundation
http://www.aifoundation.org/

3. Asha For Education
http://www.ashanet.org/

4. India Literacy Project
http://www.ilpnet.org/news/Tsunami/index.html

5. India Relief and Education Fund
http://iref.homestead.com/

6. Indians for Collective Action
http://www.icaonline.org/

7. Pratham
http://www.prathamusa.org/

8. Singh Foundation
http://singhfoundation.org

9. Vibha
http://www.vibha.org/emergencyrelief/

These groups are partnering with various mass-based organizations and NGOs in India, such as the Tamil Nadu Science Forum, the National Fishworkers Forum, Vidyarambam, APVVU (agricultural workers’ union in AP), People`s Watch, Bharathi Trust and Bhoomika Trust.

Among international organizations, Doctors Without Borders is reputed to be the most committed and experienced with meeting disasters with professional expertise. http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

The International Red Cross has country specific operations which may be accessed and supported through the following links:

Sri Lanka: http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/sri_lanka!Open
Indonesia: http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/indonesia!Open
Thailand: http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/thailand!Open

Additionally, we urge you to also spread the word about the Red Cross`s `Family Links` initiative which helps locate separated family members throughout the affected region. You can find out more about this from http://www.icrc.org/home.nsf/home/webfamilylinks

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Also see CSFH`s FAQ:

* Why are you trying to prevent IDRF, HSS, VHPA and Sewa International from raising money for Tsunami relief?

* But IDRF is raising money for as many as 11 organizations. Do you mean to say that all of these organizations are affiliated to the RSS?

* What is wrong with the Sewa Bharati?

* Aren`t the Tamil Nadu fisherfolk communities largely Christian? What influence can the Sangh have there?

* Why are you against Hindu organizations and not against Muslim/Christian groups? (After all, Catholic Relief Services has gotten the largest relief package going.)

* OK fine, the IDRF is part of the Sangh and the Sangh is violent at times. But they also do good work during crises such as this tsunami, so why should I not support them in their good work? Are you not obstructing the relief and rehabilitation of people who have been hurt by trying to prevent IDRF, HSS, VHPA and Sewa International from getting donations for the Tsunami relief?

[ http://www.stopfundinghate.org/resources/atdfaq.htm ]

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* ``The Hindu organizations most responsible for violence against Christians are the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council, VHP), the Bajrang Dal,and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Corps, RSS). According to a former RSS member, these groups cannot be divorced from the BJP party: ``There is no difference between the BJP and RSS. BJP is the body. RSS is the soul, and the Bajrang Dal is the hands for beating.``
[ http://www.hrw.org/press/1999/sep/christians.htm ]

* ``The groups most directly involved in the violence against Muslims include the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council, VHP), the Bajrang Dal, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that heads the Gujarat state government. Collectively, they are known as the sangh parivar, or family of Hindu nationalist organizations.``
[ http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/04/gujarat.htm ]

As evidence of IDRF-funded RSS-indoctrination, see
http://www.idrf.org/dynamic/modules.php?op=modload&name=
My_eGallery&file=index&do=showpic&pid=346&orderby=dateD
The gentlemen (?) on this photo are KB Hedgewar and MS Golwalkar, the first two dictators of the RSS. You can also their photos on the RSS`s homepage: http://www.rss.org