NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has extended his deepest condolences to those who lost their loved ones in the Tsunami disaster that struck countries in southern Asia. “New York City is home to many South Asians and our prayers are with them and their families,” Mayor Bloomberg was quoted as saying in a press release.

Mayor Bloomberg said that the tragedy was enormous. “I don’t know the numbers, they’re up to 80,000 or 100,000. To us they are just numbers but you have to stop and think those are individuals and our prayers go out to everybody and to their families. I do know somebody who called me the other day or had a friend call me the other day. Her son was visiting Thailand on vacation and she’s not heard from him and you know, my prayers are with him and her and hopefully he was ok but the Pacific Ocean, even though the name would say it is quiet, it is not.”

He urged people to send donations to organizations that provide disaster relief. So, call 311 or go to www.NYC.gov. “We’ve put up a list of charities that we know of and we think can help and it’s a ways for New Yorkers to try to do something at the moment,” said Bloomberg. The Office of Emergency Management has compiled a list of established organizations that would put donations to good use. They are:

* American Red Cross, International Response Fund P.O. Box 37243 Washington, D.C. www.redcross.org

* CARE USA, 151 Ellis Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30303, , www.careusa.org

* Doctors Without Borders, P.O. Box 2247, New York, NY , http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

(Compiled from news dispatches by Bhavna Kaul)