From: ilgaworldnews@ilga.org

"No amount of money can replace the grief of people who have lost everything, including their families. However, we can only try to alleviate their hunger and their suffering so that they can have the strength to carry on with the rest of their lives. We urge all our members in the unaffected areas to give generously towards the victims of the tragedy".

“We need an enormous amount of help here" says Rosanna Flamer Caldera, co-secretary general of ILGA and funder of Equal ground, an LGBT association directly on the ground in Sri Lanka. "What is happening here is that we - and I mean just ordinary citizens - are buying food, water, medicines, clothes etc from our own money and sending it to the affected areas. We are running out of money now and we need more and more and soon!”

We are doing fine at the moment. Physically that is....emotionally and mentally....well, that is a different story. We are up to our necks in relief efforts. We have been helping to bag food supplies and doing admin and coordination - I have also volunteered to be the official photographer for the consortium of NGO's that are coordinating relief efforts...so I will have to travel to the field in the next few days. Not sure how I am going to survive that...but one has to do that as well. It’s really grim here. We watch the death toll mounting...over 25,000 as of last night. The loss of livelihoods and displacement, the loss of infrastructure like roads, railways, hospitals etc is unimaginable. To recover from this we need a HUGE infusion of cash.

Equal ground has set up a charitable fund to collect monies for relief efforts. We hope to use those funds for small pockets of survivors who are not being reached by the larger agencies. We also intend using those funds for longer term sustainability rather than a short term injection”.

Rosanna Flamer Caldera
ILGA Co-Secretary general

You may donate online using ILGA’s donation page. Please indicate “Asia” in the Comments box at the bottom of the page. Money will be redistributed to LGBT, women and children organizations and administered by ILGA and Equal Ground.
http://www.ilga.org/donate.asp


It is difficult, even here in Sri Lanka, to imagine the extent and the magnitude of the catastrophic Tsumani that hit our small island on the morning of the 26th of December. Read more
http://www.ilga.org/news_results.asp?LanguageID=1&FileID=471&FileCategory=10&ZoneID=3


In the aftermath of the terrible earthquakes and Tsunamis that have devastated parts of the Asian Region, both Kursad and I, speaking on behalf of the ILGA family, extend our deepest and sincerest sympathies and offer condolences and prayers to all our brothers and sisters and extended family in the Asian Region.
Rosanna Flamer-Caldera & Kursad Kahramanoglu, Co-Secretaries General ILGA
http://www.ilga.org/news_results.asp?LanguageID=1&FileID=472&FileCategory=10&ZoneID=3