Mayor sets up collection boxes for tsunami victims
Collection boxes are to be set up across Dublin city to raise funds for the victims of the tsunamis in Asia, it emerged today.
Dublin City Council will set up the boxes in the Mansion House tomorrow, and will extend the collection next week to 25 council offices and libraries across the city.
Lord Mayor Michael Conaghan said he believed there would be a generous response.
“This is the first time we’ve done this type of fundraising. But the scale is so big we can’t be provincial about it,” he said.
The toll from the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster rose to almost 115,000 today as more dead were uncovered in Indonesia’s Aceh province. Governments and aid agencies were trying to provide supplies and shelter to more than five million people in one of the biggest humanitarian operations in history.
Dublin City Council is organising its aid effort with the Irish Red Cross.
“We’re helping them rather than set up a parallel structure. They’re professional and they’re a worldwide organisation,” said Mr Conaghan.
He added that the council’s local area offices would be accessible to people in every suburb in Dublin.
However, the opening of books of condolences is proving more difficult due to the number of countries affected by the disaster.
The nearest embassies of many of the nations, such as Thailand and Sri Lanka, are in London.
Mr Conaghan said he hoped the books of condolences would be in place when the citywide aid collection began.
“There’s a great tradition of books of condolences in the Mansion House. When people came in to sign after Beslan (where 330 people were killed during a school siege), they were saying they had been there 15 years ago,” he said.
Meanwhile, publicans and hotel owners are to hold a nationwide collection to assist the humanitarian relief operations in the countries affected by the tsunamis.
Collection buckets are expected to be placed in every pub, club, restaurant and hotel in the country over the New Year’s Eve weekend.
All proceeds will be delivered to local garda stations and then lodged into the bank account of the Irish Red Cross.
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