The earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean has hit Aceh, Indonesia, hardest of all, with more than 100,000 people killed. But the Indonesian government and military, whose role in Aceh until December 26 was mainly repression, are making it difficult to get aid to everyone who needs it.
ETAN has already raised more than $40,000 to send to grassroots groups in Aceh doing emergency relief, and we continue to solicit donations. We are also responding politically to the Indonesian government's restrictions on humanitarian agencies and violations of the cease-fire -- see some of our statements at www.etan.org http://www.etan.org .
With the help of Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! radio/TV program, Allan Nairn, Acehnese in the U.S. and Indonesia, Nonviolence International, TAPOL and others, we are funding local organizations trusted by Acehnese people (unlike the Indonesian military). These groups know how to bypass the bureaucratic and other roadblocks to get assistance where it is needed. They have long experience helping the many people in Aceh displaced by war and military repression. Every cent contributed to ETAN for tsunami relief is sent directly to local organizations.
To make a donation via credit card for Aceh relief go to http://www.etan.org/action/action2/23alert.htm. You can also download a leaflet to pass out to your friends, family and colleagues.
Please mail your check to (be sure to write "Aceh" in the memo line):
East Timor Action Network,
P.O. Box 15774,
Washington, DC 20003-0774
If you would like your donation to be tax-deductible, make it out to Nonviolence International (NI) and mail the check to the address above.
To make a tax-deductible donation via credit card online go to http://www.nonviolenceinternational.net and tell them ETAN sent you. (And please let ETAN know if you donate this way)
For more information by phone, call
Karen Orenstein, ETAN staff member, at 202-544-6911 or
Pamela Sexton, ETAN executive board member, at 831-724-8051
