At noon on Wednesday, the death toll in the disaster already stood at nearly 70,000 and it is still rising.
Launched by the Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache, the local appeal goes to the very heart of Jersey’s community, asking Islanders to respond with great humanity to families across the world who have lost their loved ones, homes and livelihoods.
Funds raised in the appeal, which was agreed at an emergency meeting held by the Bailiff on Monday, will go to the Red Cross – the international aid agency whose teams are already providing medical assistance and essential supplies in the worst-hit areas.
And this morning the States Overseas Aid Committee announced that they had agreed to grant an immediate £500,000 from their 2005 budget for disasters and emergencies to the Island appeal.
Senator Ted Vibert, who chaired an emergency meeting in the absence from the Island of president Deputy Jacqui Huet, said that the committee felt that such a monumental disaster, affecting so many people, required an appropriate response.
Islanders are being asked to support the appeal during the week it will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the arrival in Jersey during the German Occupation of the Red Cross ship Vega, which brought vital supplies in the form of 100,000 food parcels for the starving population.
Former Deputy Mike Wavell, who is chairing the fund-raising committee, said that among those who had gone to the aid of Islanders and other holidaymakers caught up in the disaster in Sri Lanka and Thailand were villagers who had lost a great deal themselves when tsunamis struck their area.
