Those who wish to make a donation to aid the victims of the tsunami disaster can send checks made out to the Diocese of Dodge City to: Tsunami Relief, Catholic Chancery, Attn: Jill, P.O. Box 137, Dodge City, KS 67801.

All checks will be forwarded to the Tsunami Emergency Fund.

Individuals can also donate directly to Catholic Relief Services (CRS). Send checks made out to Catholic Relief Services to "Catholic Relief Services – Tsunami Emergency," P.O. Box 17220 Baltimore, MD 21298-9663.

Or, donate funds via the Internet at: www.catholicrelief.org.

According to its website, CRS "made an initial commitment of $500,000 to provide shelter and immediate healthcare needs to thousands devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunamis that hit the Bay of Bengal Dec. 26.

"CRS and local partners immediately mobilized to the hardest hit areas of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia," and "the initial $500,000 will be used primarily to help [CRS] partners bring food and emergency relief to the survivors and to avoid disease."

For more information, visit the CRS website at www.catholicrelief.org.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — U.S., Canadian and British Catholic aid agencies said support for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunamis surpasses the response to previous disasters.

Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ agency for overseas aid and development, raised $17 million in the first nine days after launching its appeal to help victims of tsunamis that hit 12 countries in Asia and Africa. The money is being applied to the $25 million that CRS pledged to provide to countries most affected by the disaster.

The agency said it has raised more than $9 million through its Web site, www.catholicrelief.org.

"Normally we raise a little under $1 million in a year through our Web site," said Karen Moul, spokeswoman.

Nearly 66,000 individuals have made or pledged donations to tsunami relief, Moul said.

"We have been averaging $100,000 an hour" in donations, she said.

In Britain, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development reported $1.1 million in donations from a Jan. 2 appeal made through parishes in England and Wales. The agency had pledged about $5.5 million in tsunami relief.

A second collection was scheduled during Jan. 9 Masses, the agency said.

The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace also reported record giving levels, receiving $361,000 (US$300,000) in donations in advance of a national collection scheduled for Jan. 9, said Jack Panozzo, communications officer.

"The figures keep going up every hour," he told CNS.

An order of nuns from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, gave $15,000 (US$12,000) to the agency and said "they would probably be donating more in the near future," he said.

Panozzo told CNS that within hours of the Dec. 26 disaster, he began receiving e-mails and phone calls from Canadians wanting to help.

On the CRS Web site, the agency said it was "overwhelmed by the compassion and generosity of our loyal donors and many new ones."

In one example, the agency said a Baltimore cab driver walked into its headquarters and asked for a stack of envelopes that he could pass out to his customers throughout the day.

News in brief

Tsunami survivors find religious personnel source of consolation

KRABI, Thailand (CNS) — On Thailand’s southwestern coast, tsunami survivors, traumatized and shocked by the devastation and loss of their loved ones, poured out their grief to religious personnel. Construction worker Chaisin Ngodpho-oad told UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand, that he found his wife’s corpse Dec. 30, four days after tsunamis hit 12 countries in Asia and Africa. Survivors told of losing family members, and some told of a woman’s baby being trampled to death. Chaisin was one of the survivors from Phi Phi Island, a popular tourist destination in southern Thailand. Following the tsunamis he was evacuated to Krabi, about 25 miles northeast of the island and 400 miles southwest of Bangkok. The huge waves caused deaths in Krabi, Phangnga, Phuket, Ranong, Satun and Trang provinces. "Although I had wounds all over my body, I did not feel the pain because the loss of my wife hurt so much," Chaisin said.

In Thailand, red tape frustrates tsunami

survivors, church workers

KRABI, Thailand (CNS) — Government red tape is frustrating not only tsunami survivors but also church workers trying to get financial help to those whose homes have been ruined but who lack proper documentation. Sacred Heart Sister Marasi Junchalor said the government’s insistence on paperwork was limiting the speed and efficiency with which aid could be provided to Thais from Phi Phi Island, devastated by the Dec. 26 waves. Sister Marasi said she is so frustrated that she wants to "curse" government officials for an "insane" bureaucracy. She spoke to UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. "It is as if the trauma, shock and anxiety from the ordeal are not enough. The government now asks survivors to run around filling out forms and providing legal documents to get money to replace their destroyed homes," she said.

On remote island,

cathedral grounds

PUNE, India (CNS) — The cathedral grounds in India’s Port Blair Diocese have become a camp for some 1,300 people displaced by the tsunami disaster, said the local bishop. Bishop Aleixo das Neves Dias of Port Blair said the diocese has been directing the distribution of food, clothing and medicine at the cathedral in Port Blair, receiving little help from the government, which is operating several other camps for the displaced in the beleaguered region. In a Jan. 3 telephone interview, the bishop said that government officials have toured the cathedral grounds, "but since the victims are housed in our property, we have taken over running of the relief camp with food, clothing and medicines." Priests, nuns and other volunteers were looking after the displaced. The bishop said the church had tried to supply a sense of normalcy for the displaced, erecting a giant television screen for the people to watch.

Sri Lankan bishop

reports more than 1,000 dead in his diocese

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNS) — The huge wall of water that hit southern and eastern Sri Lanka left more than 1,000 people dead in one eastern Catholic diocese, said a Sri Lankan bishop. Bishop Joseph Kingsley Swampillai of Trincomalee-Batticaloa said Dec. 28 more bodies still needed to be extracted from debris the waves dumped inland, and many others remained missing. "The situation is still the same; there are no homes for the people in addition to the destruction of churches and temples — nothing has been spared," he told UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. Church and government workers struggled to deal with the death and destruction caused by the Dec. 26 tsunami that slammed the country’s coasts. The most severely affected areas were in the dioceses of Galle, covering the southernmost part of the island, and neighboring Trincomalee-Batticaloa, which stretches along most of the eastern coast.

Washington cardinal

visits tsunami-affected