Texas APAs Unite and Respond to Tsunami Tragedy
January 28, 2005
At the start of every hour, they show us on camera,” said Gopal Guthikonda, “and then the phones all light up.” Guthikonda and other Asian Pacific Americans in Austin, Texas, volunteered earlier this month to answer phones for an all-day local telethon to raise tsunami relief funds.
Organized by Austin’s Network of Asian-American Organizations, the Austin Asian American Chamber of Commerce and local TV station K-EYE, the telethon raised more than $43,000 from local donors. While APA Austinites worked hard to raise each dollar, some wrote huge checks. Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers, donated $3 million, and actress Sandra Bullock gave $1 million. Country music singer Willie Nelson and a crew of local singers organized a massive benefit concert.
“The New Year celebration became a somber event,” said local leader Dr. Harishini Ernest. On New Year’s Eve, Sri Lankan Austinites gathered to light candles and lament the devastation of their nation of origin.
“Bangladesh was protected by the land mass of Thailand,” said a relieved Mohammed Masoom, a Bangladeshi community leader in Houston. Although relatively few Bangladeshis died in the tragedy, all worked together to bolster relief efforts.
Ironically, the tsunami has united the various APA ethnic groups of Texas. While civil conflict continues in Sri Lanka, the Texas response to the tsunami disaster has highlighted the harmony among Sri Lankan ethnic groups in the state.
In the first 24 hours after the tsunami, Sri Lankans working out of a Buddhist temple in Houston raised over $5,000. In Austin, the Sri Lankan response has been led in part by Ernest, a Tamil Sri Lankan.
The massive Houston response to the tsunami began separately. Within two days, ethnic groups came to the conclusion that they needed to work together, united with the local government, to raise funds for a pan-ethnic relief effort. With the help of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston), 15 local organizations and foreign consular offices united under the name of Houston’s Solution for Tsunami Victims.
The coalition’s first event gathered medical supplies for relief efforts.
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