Author: Glenn Puit
Publication: The Las Vegas Review-Journal
Date: February 12, 2001
Las Vegans help relieve suffering
of countrymen
Dr. Nutan Parikh is nearly 8,000
miles away from his native India, but he hasn't forgotten about those he
left behind in 1983.
[Caption] Dr. Nutan Parikh, who
has offices on West Charleston Boulevard, is president of The Friends of
India. The group is organizing local relief efforts for victims of the
January earthquake, calling on all Las Vegans to help raise money for the
more than 500,000 people left homeless by the disaster. Photo
by John Gurzinski.
Those countrymen also haven't been
forgotten by Dr. R.D. Prabhu, a Las Vegas pulmonologist who is decades
removed from life in India.
Given their devotion, the reality
that thousands lost their lives following an earthquake in India has left
both with heavy hearts.
"You don't have to be in India to
realize what a terrible disaster this is," Prabhu said.
[Caption] Kisoro Bhai watches as
older residents of Varsamedi, India, mourn villagers who died in the Jan.
26 earthquake in which nearly 18,000 were killed and 67,000 were injured.
AP Photo
Last week, Prabhu, Parikh and other
Las Vegans with ties to India kicked off fund-raising drives to aid the
victims of the quake. They are calling on Las Vegans to offer any financial
assistance they can to help the endeavor.
Judging by the daily reports coming
out of India, there is no doubt that aid is badly needed.
The 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck
in western India Jan. 26 in the state of Gujarat. The government says it
has recovered nearly 18,000 bodies. Unofficial estimates put the death
toll at 30,000.
An additional 67,000 were injured,
and more than 500,000 are homeless in the region, which has been rocked
by more than 260 aftershocks since the larger quake.
[Caption] Dr. R. D. Prabhu
DONATIONS
Valley
residents can help the local effort to aid victims of the recent
earthquake in India:
Monetary
donations can be sent to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund, Embassy
of India. The address of the embassy is 2107 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington,
D.C., 20008.
A local
organization, The Friends of India, is also collecting financial donations.
A bank account has been set up at Wells Fargo under account No. 632038493.
For more information, you can call Dr. Nutan Parikh at 471- 7779. - The
Las vegas Review-Journal
Ankit Patel, a student at the University
of Nevada, Las Vegas, is from western India and was one of many Las Vegans
worrying about loved ones in the days after the earthquake.
He said his mother, Meena Patel,
and other family members survived the earthquake, but they were still overcome
with fear after experiencing the disaster.
"My mother was doing something in
the kitchen when everything started moving," Patel said of his mother's
account of the quake. "The whole house ended up moving several feet. Everything
was moving."
About eight family members were
home at the time because the earthquake hit on a national holiday for India.
Patel's family ran outside of their home seconds after the quake started
and avoided injury. Their house was not seriously damaged.
Parikh, president of the local Indian
group The Friends of India, also has both family and friends who live in
western India. In the days after the quake struck, Parikh said he and other
Las Vegans with ties to India were consumed by worries about loved ones.
"We really didn't know the extent
of this until the day after," Parikh said. "We found ourselves wanting
desperately to find out how friends and family are, and what we could do
to get in touch with them. Many of the phone lines were dead."
Fortunately, he has since learned
none of his friends was seriously injured, and it appears no one in Las
Vegas lost any close relatives to the disaster.
Nonetheless, The Friends of India
has been meeting for the past month, trying to come up with the best way
to help the relief effort. The group started with fund- raisers within
the Indian community that have netted $50,000, and now the organization
is branching out its fund-raising efforts to the rest of Las Vegas.
Aid efforts in India now are focusing
on emergency needs such as food, clothing and shelter. The United States
has so far pledged $9 million in aid, and the United Nations Development
Programme said Friday it was providing $3 million worth of aid, including
shelter for 40,000 families in rural areas of Gujarat.
Dr. Raj Chanderraj, a Las Vegas
cardiologist who also is a leader in The Friends of India, said any money
raised by the group in Southern Nevada will be directed to phase two of
the relief effort, which will involve rebuilding western India's infrastructure.
Chanderraj said the group hopes
to call on professionals throughout the country, such as architects and
engineers, to further the cause.
"What we plan to do is give the
money to a source that would be directly responsible for rebuilding some
of the thousands of homes destroyed," Chanderraj said.
Prabhu decided to help his fellow
Indians by calling any federal legislator who would listen to talk about
relief efforts.
"As Americans, I believe we can
do more," Prabhu said, referring to the $9 million pledged by the federal
government.
Prabhu has had phone conversations
with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Rep. Gary
Ackerman, D-N.Y., asking them to lead the fight to secure more funding.
All three have pledged to do so.
Prabhu said most of his patients
have asked what they can do to help.
He has advised each to send whatever
monetary donation they can to the Embassy of India, which is best in tune
with what is needed.
"Even $5 makes a difference," Prabhu
said.
"In India, $5 goes a long way; $1
a day can provide an individual with a healthy, well-balanced meal."
Parikh agreed, saying what is needed
most in India right now is money.
"Anyone can help," Parikh said.
"This assistance we are going to
offer is not related to country or religion. This is a humanitarian cause.
Anything anyone can give will help other human lives."
