I have two friends in the region. One, in India, was thankfully unscathed but I'm still to hear from my work colleague in Sri Lanka. He only arrived there on Christmas eve and was meant to spend three months on the island (in a hut by the beach, of all places). I'm yet to receive word from him and fear the worst. In any case, this is an absolute tragedy, quite possibly the worst natural disaster in history.
But actions speak louder than words, and as J-Mann said,
Please consider donating a bit of money to a relief organization of your choice to help in the recovery and reconstruction efforts for this disaster. I wasn't able to give much, but I chose to donate to Catholic Relief Services, which has given $500,000 already toward immediate care.
A list of organizations taking donations can be found here:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/27/quake.aidsites/index.html
Please help out in any way you can. Individually we can't give much, but together maybe we can make a difference.
If my broke ass can donate a fiver to the Red Cross then so can you. It doesn't take much so just do it.
