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E-mail'Schools, hospitals ... all gone'
Headed to Sri Lanka
Philip G. Pavely/Tribune-Review
Sandra Tolliver is the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review city editor and can be reached at 412-320-7829 or via e-mail.
Peters physician Dr. Vasu Malepati brought badly needed medicine to treat those wounds and the gripping coughs, diarrhea and dysentery caused by fevers that spread among survivors one week after the Indian Ocean tsunami swept away coastal villages in Sri Lanka.
Malepati and his wife, pediatrician Dr. Durga Malepati, left New Year's Day for a three-week visit to Sri Lanka, to treat victims of the Dec. 26 catastrophe. They had volunteered their help four years earlier when an earthquake struck their native India, but they were unprepared for the wreckage they found this time.
"There is no comparison," Vasu Malepati said Wednesday. "So much damage, and not only to people. Houses, schools, hospitals, bridges -- all gone."
Now back home, the Malepatis, accompanied by two other doctors and a social worker, ministered to victims on a mission organized by Brother's Brother Foundation, a North Side relief organization.
Five weeks after the disaster, the reported death toll ranges from about 157,000 to 178,000 across 11 nations hit by the tsunami. The range reflects differing figures reported by separate agencies in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. An estimated 142,000 people remain missing.
More than 30,000 died in Sri Lanka, 12,000 of them children. Many survivors are still overcome with loss, but the surviving children are beginning to rebound, Vasu Malepati said.
"Children live in the present, not so much in the past or the future. That is their best quality," he said.
Along with 100,000 Sri Lankan homes and 150,000 vehicles, almost all harbor facilities were destroyed, and 20,000 fishing boats were lost or damaged. Fishermen still are waiting for necessities -- food, shelter and medical care -- before they can begin to rebuild their lives.
"If they can get nets, they can start working. But still they are afraid," Vasu Malepati said.
Asian countries devastated by the tsunami are depending on aid groups to help them recover. Brother's Brother Foundation continues to ship medicines donated by U.S. pharmaceutical companies, including Canonsburg-based Mylan Laboratories Inc. The latest shipment was prepared yesterday.
Donated drugs include antibiotics, anti-fungal, anti-malarial and anti-viral medicines, pain relievers, muscle relaxants and medicines to treat anxiety and insomnia.
"They called me the tsunami doctor at my hotel, when I unloaded the medicines," said Malepati, whose entourage carried 2,225 bottles of medications in one of Pittsburgh's first shipments.
People in the Pittsburgh area have responded overwhelmingly, contributing more than $1.3 million toward the relief effort through Brother's Brother Foundation alone, and about $5 million more through other charitable groups, said Luke Hingson, Brother's Brother president.
To date, more than 11 shipments of medical supplies valued at more than $60 million have been sent from Pittsburgh. Food donated by H.J. Heinz Co. and safety products from Mine Safety Appliances will be sent later this month.
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