TEAR Fund Launches Emergency appeal for victims of Tsunami

New Zealamd Aid and Development agency TEAR Fund is launching an emergency appeal for victims of the Bay of Bengal Tsunami. Based on preliminary reports from partner offices in the region TEAR Fund anticipates massive relief needs for approximately two-three weeks, with considerable longer-term rehabilitation needs thereafter.

Basic relief items are needed, along with shelter, and basic building materials to damaged or destroyed dwellings, and to replenish household items in the form of tarpaulin sheets; family kits, and mosquito nets. A crucial part of the operation is tracing and family linking,

TEAR Fund New Zealand Executive Director Stephen Tollestrup says, " Given the size of the Bay of Bengal coastal rim we are particularly concerned for the isoated villages and communities that were already marginal and now are now cut off from the outside world. With the initial death toll estimated to be 11,500 I fear we will see something of a much larger scale over the next few days emerge."

Donations can be pledged or given by phone to TEAR Fund on 0800 800 777, or online http://www.tearfund.org.nz

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>