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Indian Americans Organize to Aid Gujarat

Survivors collect their belongings from the debris of a collapsed building in Ahmedabad, Monday, Jan. 29, three days after a 7.9 magnitude quake that has left many thousands dead. Photo by Associated Press.

Death toll in India still rising from deadly quake

By Lori Hinnant/AP

Peter Kothari began early Friday morning trying to call relatives in India to learn whether they all were safe from the devastating earthquake that killed thousands of people.

“The first thing they said was, ‘We are OK,’” he said. “That was the major thing I wanted to hear.”

Several Indian cultural groups and associations in the United States began organizing relief efforts to aid the quake-stricken area. Kothari, who is president of the Indo-American Cultural Association, was to fly to India this week for a family visit. His trip will now be spent helping coordinate aid efforts.

Bay Area Relief Efforts BAPS Earthquake Relief Fund 25 Corning Ave Milpitas, CA 95035 www.baps-care.org India Development & Relief Fund Make check out to: “Gujarat Earthquake Relief” 4807 Phebe Ave Fremont, CA www.idrf.org

“At this moment we are trying to figure out what we can do, and what we should do,” he said.

The 7.9-magnitude quake that struck India on Jan. 26 was the worst in more than 50 years. It shook the earth for more than 1,200 miles, but it hit hardest in Gujarat state, pulverizing cities and towns and bringing multistory buildings down like houses of cards.

As of Tuesday, officials counted more than 6,400 bodies. Officials estimated the final death toll could rise to 20,000 or more, while India's defense minister estimated 100,000 may have died, with twice as many injured. Every day, rescue workers reach rural villages that have been completely demolished by the earthquake.

President George W.Bush expressed his condolences to India’s prime minister Tuesday. “I assured him that our nation was deeply concerned for the citizenry that had lost their lives,'' Bush said.

The United States already provided $1 million in aid and has pledged another $5 million in emergency supplies.

The Asian American Hotel Owners Association, with headquarters in Atlanta, is asking its members to send donations to the American Red Cross, which has launched relief efforts in Gujarat where the quake was centered. The nonprofit organization has nearly 7,000 members in the U.S. and Canada, according to office coordinator Faye Jacobson.

“Many of our members come from Gujarat or have family there,” she said Friday night.

The American Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles has already sent $25,000 to jump-start relief efforts, and a spokeswoman said an additional $20,000 was being sent to buy plastic sheeting and blankets. Five American emergency relief workers and one from Japan will assist the Indian Red Cross in providing water, shelter and medical supplies to victims, according to Red Cross spokeswoman Brenda Victoria Castillo.

Of the 150,000 Indo-Americans living in the Bay Area, some 50,000 are from Gujarat, and they have been coordinating funds through a number of organizations since Friday.

Local representatives from the Ahmedabad-based relief organization, Bochasanwasi Shree Aksharpurushottam Sanstha (BAPS), have been working to reach their target goal of raising $25 million for earthquake relief.

BAPS, a religious organization responsible for building over 20 temples in the United States, has been at the forefront of disaster relief efforts in India over the past ten years.

Harshad Shah, president of BAPS Care International, which is a non-religious part of the larger organization, said that the group already has raised over $150,000 locally.

“We are focusing on raising money and they are focusing on getting the work done,” Shah explained. “We are sharing the responsibility.”

BAPS has close to 200 volunteers in the Bay Area, and 27 centers across the country. These volunteers began an aggressive e-mail, print mail and telephone campaign just two hours after the quake hit.

Locally, Shah and others have been making presentations at various companies where there are heavy Indian populations. Tuesday, Shah was on his way to make a presentation to a group of five Indian-owned companies in Fremont.

“Yesterday, we made one at Cisco,” Shah said. “The support is unbelievable.”

BAPS is the only NGO so far, besides Red Cross, that is permitted by the Indian government to carry out the relief work in Bhuj, the city hit worst by the earthquake.

Since the earthquake, BAPS has sent hundreds of volunteers to Bhuj and other parts of Gujarat. The kitchen BAPS opened in Bhuj caters to over 12,000 homeless people, and truckloads of powdered milk, rice and lentils have been arriving daily.

Other relief organizations, such as the India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF), have also been making big efforts, both locally and nationwide.

“We have received over 1000 calls and 500-plus e-mail contributions,” local spokesman Shyam Gokulgandhi said, from the IDRF Fremont office.

The IDRF sends money to a number of NGOs in India with which they have worked in past relief efforts, and it also takes suggestions from the donors about where the money should be used.

Providian Financial Corp. in San Francisco donated $10,000 to relief efforts. Shailesh Mehta, the chairman and CEO of the credit card company, is from Mumbai, India, and has family there.

“Hopefully, our small gesture will start momentum,” he said later in an interview .

Jeevan Zutshi, an engineer and real estate developer who heads the Indo-American Community Foundation in Fremont, Calif., said his organization of more than 500 people is prepared to give aid and resources to the quake victims as soon as possible.

“The community has really gone gung-ho in sending support,” he said. “We will be doing all the things that have to be done.”