Asians sympathize with Katrina victims<\/p>\n
Reuters, New Delhi\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Survivors of Asia's deadly tsunami said on Thursday they felt
\ngreat sympathy for the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the United
\nStates, having themselves felt nature's wrath.<\/p>\n
"This catastrophe will haunt them for years," said Ajay Singh,
\nwho lost many of his relatives in India's Andaman and Nicobar
\narchipelago when the tsunami struck on Dec. 26 last year.<\/p>\n
"The victims of Katrina must be feeling the same way we did,"
\nSingh, who works as a laboratory assistant at a government
\ncollege in Port Blair, capital of the islands, said.<\/p>\n
Hurricane Katrina is believed to have killed hundreds of
\npeople in Louisiana and Mississippi when it struck the Gulf Coast
\nwith 140-mph (225 kph) winds and a 30-foot (9-meter) wall of
\nwater that inundated a wide swath of coastline.<\/p>\n
The Indian Ocean tsunami, triggered by an undersea earthquake
\noff Indonesia Sumatra island, killed up to 232,000 people in 13
\ncountries and left over a million homeless.<\/p>\n
It hit Indonesia's Aceh the hardest, leaving 170,000 people
\ndead or missing and hundreds of thousands more homeless.<\/p>\n
"We feel the same because of what happened in Aceh," said
\nKuntoro Mangkusubroto, head of the Indonesian province's
\nreconstruction agency, after visiting the U.S. embassy in Jakarta
\nto express his condolences on behalf of all Acehnese.<\/p>\n
Kuntoro said residents of Aceh, the most devout Muslim part of
\nIndonesia, were praying for the victims of Katrina.<\/p>\n
In Sri Lanka, tsunami survivors were also touched by the
\nplight of the victims, especially those in hurricane-hit New
\nOrleans.<\/p>\n
"I feel really sorry about them, especially those who are
\ndepending on tourism like the area where I am from," said Lalith
\nNagasinghe, who has just finished rebuilding his "Lucky Tuna"
\nrestaurant in the popular southern beach resort of Unawatuna.<\/p>\n
"We have a lot of Americans working and helping in projects
\naround the country. I've met many nice guys from the States."<\/p>\n
But many in Sri Lanka are still living in rudimentary shelters
\nand were unaware of the tragedy on the other side of the world.
\nThe tsunami killed around 40,000 people in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n
"Some people don't know because they don't have a television
\nanymore," said Rev. Eraj De Mel of the Assembly of God, who is
\nhelping tsunami-hit families near the historic southern port of
\nGalle.<\/p>\n
In Aceh, survivors fondly recall the help provided by
\nthousands of U.S. troops in the aftermath of the tsunami. For
\nweeks, U.S. navy helicopters were the main aid lifeline to
\ncommunities on the battered west coast of Aceh.<\/p>\n
"I saw it (Katrina) on TV," said Muzakir, 36, a civil servant
\nin Banda Aceh.<\/p>\n
"I could not imagine the impact if that would happen in Aceh.
\nWe are sorry that it happened."<\/p>\n
U.S. President George W. Bush has said it would take years to
\nrecover from Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst natural
\ndisasters ever to hit the United States.<\/p>",
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