Press Release: An Impassioned Plea for Emergency Medical Aid

> Tamil Emergency Medical Service
> "Peace through Development"- TEMS
>
>
> Press Release: An Impassioned Plea for Emergency
> Medical Aid
>
> For Immediate Release
> December 28, 2004
>
> The Tamil Emergency Medical Service (TEMS) is making
> an impassioned
> plea to the Canadian public to join hands in a
> collective effort to
> help with relief efforts in the North and East of
> Sri Lanka for the
> tsunami disaster.
>
> An estimated 10,000 people have perished and over
> half a million
> people are displaced across the North and East of
> Sri Lanka due to the
> Tsunami disaster and its only day two of the relief
> efforts. Aid
> agencies working in the North and East of Sri Lanka,
> led by the Tamil
> Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), are overwhelmed
> by the sheer
> enormity of the unprecedented crisis that has
> descended upon them.
>
> Among the immediate and urgent needs to be addressed
> is the need for
> shelter for the displaced people, food, and clean
> water. Aid workers
> have stressed the need for clean water, as they fear
> that wells and
> usual water sources may be contaminated by seawater
> or overflowing
> sewage. There are also concerns of spreading
> diseases. Aid workers
> fear for epidemics as displaced populations become
> desperate for food
> and water.
>
> Along with fear of the spread of diseases is also
> the urgent need for
> emergency medicines for the affected populations.
> "There is an
> immediate and urgent need to address the emergency
> medical needs with
> the displaced populations, particularly since the
> government of Sri
> Lanka has provided zero efforts in the North and
> East" says Ms.
> Niksala Krishnan of the Tamil Emergency Medical
> Services.
>
> In an article on the 28th December National Post
> titled, "In Toronto,
> A Scramble to Offer Aid," a Sri Lankan government
> official was quoted
> making a desperate plea for help from people
> overseas: "People from
> overseas, please send immediate help. We are not
> getting any help
> from the government. Somebody has to help these
> kids."- Emelda
> Sugumar.
>
> "This is the time for the Canadian people and
> institutions to unite in
> a collective effort to bring some relief in
> devastated North and East
> of the Sri Lanka," Ms. Krishnan said. She further
> said that materials
> like milk food for children, clothing, blankets, bed
> sheets, mats, dry
> rations, drinking water, toilets and urgent
> medicines including drugs
> and first kits have been identified as being
> urgently needed.
> "Monetary donations are the best way for the public
> to help the aid
> agencies working in the affected areas, but we are
> looking for all
> sorts of support from clothes and water to medicine
> tablets and human
> resources," she said.
>
> Ms. Krishnan emphasized on the need for medical
> drugs like pain
> relievers, diarrhoea medicines, anti-malarials,
> antibiotics etc. She
> also stressed on the need for items from first aid
> kits, surgical
> items etc.
>
> Those willing to donate medical items can contact
> the Tamil Emergency
> Medical Services at 416-261-4743. Medical items can
> be dropped off at
> 3150 Eglinton Ave. East (Markham and Eglinton), Unit
> #201 .
>
> All other items can be packaged and dropped off at
> Trico International
> Forwarding Inc. at 2055 Kennedy Road (Kennedy and
> 401). You can
> contact Trico at 416-754-1633.
>
> Monetary donations can be made to the Tamil
> Rehabilitation
> Organization (TRO) at a TD Canada Trust Bank.
> Account #: 500-1027,
> Transit #: 540. The TRO can be contacted at
> 416-751-8777 for further
> information.
>
>
> Annexure A - Background
>
> Backgrounder: Disaster in North and East of Sri
> Lanka
> Massive tidal waves triggered by the largest
> undersea earthquake to
> shake the planet in over 40 years devastated South
> Asian coastlines
> drowning and washing away entire villages and
> leaving behind a path of
> death and destruction on Sunday. The death toll is
> estimated at over
> 55,000 and still soaring according to media reports.
> Sri Lanka has
> been the hardest hit and the death toll is estimated
> to reach 16,000
> according to reports from the south of the island.
>
> Aid workers fear that 10,000 people have lost their
> lives and more
> than a half a million are displaced in the North and
> East of Sri
> Lanka. The tsunami disaster has compounded an
> already tragic
> situation in the North and East where the
> populations have suffered
> the terrible toll of an over twenty-year-old brutal
> war. People
> living in the affected regions have had no relief
> from the war in
> spite of a three-year-old peace process.
>
> The present resources available in the North and
> East of Sri Lanka are
> grotesquely inadequate to address the
> ever-increasing relief needs for
> those affected by tsunami disaster. The prospect of
> an increasing
> death toll, outbreaks of epidemics, shortages of
> food and a continued
> denial of basic living needs for a half a million
> people is proving to
> be a colossal challenge according to the Tamil
> Rehabilitation
> Organization (TRO), the leading aid agency working
> in the affected
> regions.
>
> To aid the relief efforts in the North and East,
> TEMS is soliciting
> donations of emergency medical supplies. Medical
> supplies can be
> donated at the Medical items can be dropped off at
> 3150 Eglinton Ave.
> East (Markham and Eglinton), Unit #201.
>
> Other supplies such as clothing materials,
> non-perishable food etc.
> can be packaged boxes and dropped off at Trico
> International
> Forwarding Inc. at 2055 Kennedy Road (Kennedy and
> 401). You can
> contact Trico at 416-754-1633.
>
> Monetary Donations can be made to the Tamil
> Rehabilitation
> Organization at a TD Canada Trust Bank. Account #:
> 500-1027, Transit
> #: 540. Contact Mr. Gunanathan of Tamil
> Rehabilitation Organization
> Branch in Canada at 416-751-8777 for further
> information.
>
> Annexure B - List Of Identified Items Needed
> Urgently
>
> 1) Food (includes milk powder, precooked food) for
> 80 000 families, 3
> times/day, meals for two weeks
> 2) Non food items (includes kitchen utensils, 100
> 000 mats)
> 3) Clothing (special concern for women and children)
>
> 4) Water purification tablets (500 000) and water
> containers (5 lit. capacity)
> 5) Temporary shelters (25,000 tents for a family of
> 4 and 50 medical tents)
> 6) Portable generators (50)
> 7) Medical Items
>
> Medical Items
>
> 1) Drugs such as paracetamol, Aspirin or non-aspirin
> pain relievers,
> antibiotics etc.
> 2) Non-Prescription Drugs, anti-diarrhoea medication
> etc.
> 3) Antacid (for stomach upset)
> 4) Syrup of Ipecac
> 5) Laxative
> 6) Activated charcoal
> 7) Dressings
> 8) Suture Material
> 9) Disposal Syringes
>
> 10) First Aid Kits
> a. Sterile adhesive bandages
> b. Sterile gauze pads
> c. Hypoallergenic adhesive tape
> d. Triangular bandages
> e. Sterile roller bandages
> f. Scissors
> g. Tweezers
> h. Needles
> i. Moistened towelettes
> j. Antiseptic
> k. Thermometers
> l. Tongue blades
> m. Tube of petroleum jelly or other lubricants
> n. Safety pins
> o. Cleansing agents/soaps
> p. Latex gloves