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Raja Simhan T.E.

The reach of the Internet is truly awesome. As proved by how quickly online aid poured in after the tsunami tragedy.

THE moment Anandhi, who lives in Singapore, heard of the tsunami tragedy, she donated her personal savings (S$1,000) to a charity raising funds to help the affected people in India.

Vidya, who lives in the US, gave away her savings of $500 to another charity.

What is striking about these contributions is that they were all done within seconds — through the Internet.

Granted, there are instances of technology abuse. However, in the wake of the tsunami tragedy, the Internet has enabled organisations and individuals to reach out real fast to victims.

Information collated from the Internet says 10 days after the tsunami waves struck (on December 26), American relief agencies had raised more than $245 million.

The American Red Cross raised more than $106 million, out of which $57 million was through its Web site.

Similarly, UNICEF received $20 million from 150,000 online donations and Oxfam America received 80 per cent of its $15 million online. The American branch of Doctors Without Borders has raised $16 million through Internet donations ... the list goes on.

A number of Web sites in India and abroad played a key role. For instance, Sulekha.com raised over $700,000. "When we asked for help, members in more than 100 countries responded," says Param Parmeswaran, founder of the US-based Web site. There were about 7,000 donors. The amount ranged from as small as $5 to as high as $12,000.

Sulekha created a large matching fund that matched, dollar-for-dollar, all tax-free contributions, he says.

The power of the Internet has been truly amazing, he says. Funds kept pouring in, non-stop, in the first week of the tsunami tragedy. Every minute, funds worth $100-$200 were contributed to the site.

According to Parameswaran, most of the donations came from 12 major countries, including the US, the UK, Canada, Singapore, Australia and Malaysia and a majority of the donors were Indians. The money was given to the Association for India's Development (AID), a not-for-profit organisation.`The Hindu Relief Fund' set up on December 27, 2004, a day after the tsunami struck, collected Rs 12.56 crore in two months.

Of this, Rs 3.54 crore (28.18 per cent of total contributions) was donated online, with the donors from 50 different countries. The US accounted for the largest online collections, amounting to Rs 2.17 crore, followed by India (Rs 50.92 lakh).

Sify Ltd, the Chennai-based Internet and e-commerce services company, raised Rs 1 crore in a week through its Web site.

The company's consumer portal, www.sify.com, and its news portal, www.samachar.com, established the online payment gateway in a partnership initiative with Citibank for contributions towards relief work by the Indian arm of the Red Cross. Contributions came from overseas Indians and others to the tune of about Rs 1 crore over seven days, says a company statement.

Those interested in contributing had to log on to www.sify.com, and use their Visa/MasterCard/Diner's cards, domestic or international.

Sify also established Internet centres in Tamil Nadu's coastal districts of Cuddalore and Kanyakumari. These provided free Net access facilities to the public, non-governmental organisations, officials and everyone who wished to use the Internet to reach their loved ones.

"Thanks to the Internet, contributions reached tsunami-affected people quickly," says an official of the Tamil Nadu Government.

Picture by K. Gopinathan

raja@thehindu.co.in

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