Global United Refugee Children's Fund

G.U.R.C.F.

"In any disaster, children's are the most vulnerable creatures of all"

Czeslaw Knobbe

We are a 501(c)3 non profit organization. Our mission is to provide to children's refugee with home, educational resources, and prepare them to work and saddle in United States of America.

14300 NEWPORT AVENUE
SUITE 66
TUSTIN CA 92780
714-573-8289

The massive tsunami that struck southern Asia killed thousands and left millions homeless. Relief efforts are focused on basic items, such as food, clean water and medicine. Aid agencies worry about the spread of waterborne diseases. Death tolls rise as the horrendous scale of the tsunami disaster becomes clearer. Estimated death toll has well surpassed 100,000. We want to raise at least $1 million to help children and families in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Thailand and everyone who was affected after destructive waves (tsunami) caused by an earthquake hit Southern Asia on Sunday December 26th, 2004. Funds will be used to support both short and long-term relief and rehabilitation in all affected countries.

Sri Lankan children victims of the 26 December deadly tsunamis line up to receive food at camp for displaced people in the southwestern coastal town of Hikkaduwa.(AFP/Jimin Lai)

Timeline

Although National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued tsunami warnings as soon as they heard of the huge earthquake off Sumatra, the waves outran communications at jet speeds of 500 mph (804 kph) - catching hundreds of thousands of people unaware. Here is a timeline of the agency's actions soon after scientists learned of the giant earthquake. All times are Greenwich Mean Time, on Sunday.

12:59 a.m. GMT Sunday
A huge earthquake erupted in the Indian Ocean off Sumatra, Indonesia.

1:07 a.m. GMT
Seismic signals from stations in Australia alerted the NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii about an earthquake.

1:14 a.m. GMT
The tsunami warning center in Hawaii sent a bulletin to nations that participate in the Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific (ITSU). India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives are not members of the system.

2:04 a.m. GMT
A second bulletin was sent, alerting nations that the earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 8.5. The bulletin said the ITSU nations did not face the threat of a tsunami, but did cite the possibility of a tsunami near the quake's epicenter.

2:30 a.m. GMT
The warning center alerted the Australia Management System.

3:30 a.m. GMT
The center received the first indications that devastating tsunamis had formed from Internet news reports of casualties in Sri Lanka. It's believed the deadly waves had struck the whole region by then.

3:45 a.m. GMT
A Sri Lanka navy commander called the tsunami center to ask about the potential for further tsunami damage and earthquake aftershocks.

4 a.m. GMT
The U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka called the tsunami center to set up a notification system in case of aftershocks. He said he would contact Sri Lanka's prime minister for such notifications.

News outlets continued reports of increasing, widespread casualties.

5:45 a.m. GMT
After the Harvard University Seismology Department revised the magnitude of the earthquake to 8.9, the tsunami center advised the Australian Bureau of Meteorology that the waves could hit Australia's west coasts.

6 a.m. GMT
The center told the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii about the growing earthquake magnitude and the potential for devastating tsunamis in the western Indian Ocean.

6:15 a.m. GMT
The Australia Bureau of Meteorologists told the tsusami center that it had sent out an alert concerning Australia's west coast.

8:15 a.m. GMT
The center alerted U.S. State Department Operations to the potential threat to Madagascar and Africa.

In Los Angeles, California it is:

Asian Tsunami death toll surpasses

155,217

relief efforts increase

Disaster Snapshot

Source:Wikipedia, 11:10am ET, 03 Jan '05

Your help is desperately needed!

Tsunami devastates Asia

Last Updated: 04-Jan-2005

Asia Relief Please Donate Now

 

Helping relief efforts in Sri Lanka

In response to the devastation in Sri Lanka as a result of the tsunami that hit on the 26th of December 2004, a number of relief efforts have been launched. This page will maintain an updated list of the various online channels through which donations and help can be provided. I'm not personally involved in any of these efforts, but provide this list as a means for people to choose whichever channel they are most comfortable with.

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Sri Lankans of different religious and ethnic backgrounds pray together at a religious ceremony in remembrance of those killed by tsunamis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Dec. 31, 2004. White flags flew across much of Sri Lanka symbolizing grief Friday as the island nation began observing a day of national mourning in memory of the thousands killed by tsunami. The death toll is Sri Lanka is more than 28,000.(AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

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Tsunami victims at a relief camp reach for rice packets being distributed in Nagappattinam, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Friday, Dec. 31, 2004. As the death toll from the earthquake-tsunami catastrophe soared to 121,000, nations donated US$500 million (euro370 million) toward the world's largest-ever relief effort. The death toll in India is above 7,700. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)