'Tsunami of generosity'

The Maltese yesterday showed that their generosity goes way beyond the island's shores when they donated hundreds of thousands of liri in cash and supplies in aid of the Indian Ocean tsunami victims.

A phemonemal Lm491,809 were raised during a special edition of L-Istrina yesterday. On Boxing Day, the annual fund-raising TV marathon collected more than Lm800,000 for several charities, bringing the total raised to Lm1,308,305. Last week it was decided to give the money collected during the second part of L-Istrina, which included an auction of works of art, to the victims of the catastrophe.

L-Istrina also reopened its telephone lines so that people could phone in and donate money. Peppi Azzopardi, one of the organisers, stressed that the money would be sent to its destination immediately instead of waiting for Maltacom to process telephone bills. He said financial help was needed now and in his plea for people to give their donations he said the money would surely help save lives.

In the meantime, between 70 and 80 volunteers laboured away at two state schools, packing supplies in boxes destined for the region. These will go through the Central Disaster Management Unit coordinated by the European Commission in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The hall of Maria Regina Junior Lyceum, in Blata l-Bajda was chock-a-block with blankets, duvets, tents and huge amounts of preserves. Bottled water, baby-food, crackers, tinned food, long-life milk, pasta and noodles will soon start their journey to Sri Lanka, a fellow Commonwealth country which has made a direct request for help from Malta.

At the same time, people were flocking to Ninu Cremona secondary school, in Gozo to donate supplies.

"We never expected such a response," Civil Protection Department head Peter Cordina said when contacted in the afternoon. In fact, people had to be asked to take supplies to Ta' Qali because there was not enough space at the Blata l-Bajda school. Mr Cordina said there were enough items to fill about 20 containers. A shipping agent is supplying seven of them, with the company paying freight charges for two.

Even haulers were offering their services free of charge, Mr Cordina said, adding that help was coming from many areas. He said several companies had given important supplies to be sent to the stricken areas.

The containers are due to leave Malta on Thursday. However, the invaluable medicines, mostly needed to stop the spread of disease, will leave Malta by air, probably tomorrow.

Acting President George Hyzler, a medical doctor by profession, appealed to doctors to donate promotional medicines they received.

"The Maltese are always prepared to give," he said during a short visit to the Maria Regina school yesterday morning. Dr Hyzler, who also made a personal donation, expressed his surprise at the huge amount of supplies that had been donated.

Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg, accompanying Dr Hyzler, called it "a tsunami of generosity".