World: Toronto vigil marks tsunami

Tuesday, 27 December 2005

Although it's been a year since the tsunami devastated South Asia, Gayanthini Nadesalingam remembers it like it was yesterday. The University of Toronto business student was visiting Sri Lanka at the time, a trip back to the homeland she left in 1986.

Last Christmas Day, she and other students on the trip were volunteering in an orphanage. Less than 24 hours later, they were walking past piles of bodies, trying to co-ordinate relief.

Back in Toronto, Nadesalingam, 22, dedicated herself to reminding others that funding and resources are still badly needed in the region. To mark the one-year anniversary of the tsunami, she and other members of the local Tamil Youth Organization organized a candlelight vigil at Albert Campbell Square at the Scarborough Civic Centre yesterday afternoon.

About 150 people, largely Tamil youth and their families, listened to speakers from the local Tamil community, area politicians and student groups. "We want to unite Tamil youth to pay attention to the struggles back home, and also to remind our fellow Canadians not to forget the victims of the tsunami," Nadesalingam said.

Also yesterday, a benefit concert was held for survivors of the Oct. 8 earthquake in Pakistan and India. The event, expected to raise $50,000, capped off the four-day Reviving the Islamic Spirit conference at the National Trade Centre.

A crowd of about 13,000 cheered wildly as Native Deen, an African-American Muslim hip-hop band from Washington, D.C., rocked the centre. "You have to be really creative to express the Islamic message through hip-hop. Any artist that can pull that off, I give kudos to them," said Nidal Diaz, 27, who drove from Ottawa with a group of 200 to attend the conference.

Sami Yusef from the United Kingdom, Najam Sheraz from Pakistan and the Malaysian singing group Raihan were other popular Islamic musicians featured at the concert.

Though the quake was more than two months ago, the need for aid is greater than ever, said Javed Akbar, director of the International Development and Relief Foundation. "The harsh winter conditions in northern Pakistan are causing severe difficulties."

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