From Ground Team member Nick Kandola

"The scene this morning at Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu consisted of green triangle shelter tents in the early morning sun. Yesterday morning, Khalsa Aid arrived with 200 tents that were manufactured within 48 hours. They travelled through the night on an 8 hour long journey from Bangalore. The Indian Army was called en route to provide a small team to assist in the construction. The ground is very soft and sandy and therefore additional materials were brought in to ensure that the shelter tents were constructed properly.

We are grateful to Colonel Arun Yadav and the Madras Regiment who are based in Wellington, Tamil Nadu. The soldiers worked for 3 hours yesterday and managed to construct around 50 tents. Local villagers also assisted the army by mixing cement and stones to ensure that the tent pylons were solid.

We are hoping that the complete load of 340 tents will be constructed within the next 48 hours.

There was some panic amongst the local affected people who thought that would not be enough to go around.

Women were crying yesterday at officials trying to get their names on the initial list. Others were weeping because their husbands were still missing. The scene here is still heartbreaking. A father and mother explained to me that their four children died in the Tsunami.

Women with children and single families were given priority over others. A list of 200 families has now been made which will be provided with shelter today."

Other Updates:

Ravinder Singh, presently at Port Blair on the Andaman Islands, has confirmed that 1500 toothbrushes, 1000 toothpaste tubes, 300 kilos of clothing soap, 1000 bars of soap, towels and bedsheets have been purchased following requests from the Lt. Governor of the Islands, Prof. Ramchandra Ganesh Kapse. This is in addition to 4 tons of food and cooking materials which had already been acquired for distribution. A further truckload of undergarments are presently in Chennai awaiting delivery to Port Blair. Khalsa Aid will be delivering these to Campbell Bay personnally by ship within the next 40 hours with the assistance of the shipping minister on the Island.

Reporting on the additional non-governmental assistance he has received on the Island, Ravinder said "We have been co-ordinating our activities very closely with Kulwant Singh of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle and Sardar Pritam Singh Sandhu of the Lion's Club. Both groups have offered their services on the Islands over the next few months. Without these local groups, our aid mission would have been very difficult here.

There are also high risks of getting malaria to contend with and diarrhea is prevalent due to the contaminated water supplies."

Khalsa Aid will set up stores in Campbell Bay to ensure the aid is distributed efficiently and safely.

How the Sangat Can Help
We ask the sangat to pray for all the Tsunami-affected families. Khalsa Aid also requires more volunteers. If you would like to help, please call our hotline or visit our website www.khalsaaid.org (UK Registered Charity 1080374). You can also contact the ground team at the numbers given below.

Phone:
Hotline (England) 01753 728630
Ground Team (India) +91 984 025 8984 OR +91 984 060 3528

Contact Us

Phone:

( 0 ) 7966 414 774
( 0 ) 7733 124 520

Fax: To be announced soon

Mailing Address:
Khalsa Aid
Office 16
111 Whitby Road
Slough
Berks
SL1 3DR
UK

Online: www.khalsaaid.org
E-mail: khalsaaid@khalsaaid.org