Libraries in Tsunami's Path Need Aid
RSSSchools, libraries urged to donate money, materials to devastated areas
By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 02/01/2005
More than a month after a December tsunami swept through seven South Asian countries killing over 220,000 people, schools and libraries in the affected areas are still in desperate need of assistance.
While financial donations will obviously provide the fastest relief, "we also really need things that will help these traumatized kids," says Russell Bowden, former vice president of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, who lives five miles north of Sri Lanka's devastated coast. "That means children's books with lots of pictures and simple English, and crayons, drawing paper, and watercolor paint—anything that will help them express themselves."
As UNESCO and other international aid agencies continue to assess the damage throughout the region, the Sri Lanka National Library has already identified 177 school libraries, 53 public libraries, and 68 libraries attached to religious institutions as either destroyed or damaged.
In the Indonesian province of Aceh in Sumatra, the epicenter of the earthquake that caused the deadly waves, 50 percent of the schools were destroyed and at least 1,000 teachers were listed as missing, reports the Jakarta Post. And of the six provinces in southern Thailand that were hit, an estimated 30 schools were destroyed, affecting 5,000 students, says Katie Day, an elementary school librarian at Dulwich International College in Phuket. "Sending books is not recommended. What they need are books in Thai," says Day, who has translations of Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket, and Captain Underpants in her library. "Our goal will be to outfit these Thai school libraries with a similar standard of books."
In Malaysia's northern Penang and Kedah states, 68 people, including school children, were killed and 300 were injured, says Diljit Singh, a professor in the department of information and library science at the University of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. Since damage to school libraries there was minimal, Singh recommends that any aid should focus on countries more severely hit, including Maldives and India.
What can you do to help? For those seeking library-specific donations, visit www.ala.org/ala/iro/iroactivities/tsunamirelief.htm for more information. But donating to general relief organizations is probably best at this stage. "The people there aren't worried about their schools and libraries," says Peter Genco, president of the International Association of School Librarianship. "Survival is the main thing, and people are still scrounging for basic needs like food, clothes, and shelter."
