Via Mahesh Bhat

Reza, the Paris-based, Iranian photojournalist writes:

Dear Qasim [sic]

Your action brings in my mind a Persian saying :

“All the darkness of the world together can not extinguish the light of a small candle”

Yes the world and it's decision makers has forgotten many devasted nations, but all is needed in this era of communication and media is one person like you, “one small candle,” that will break all the darkness.

Great work , continue.
All my thoughts with you and Keshmiri people .

Warmest regards,
Reza

Reza is talking about Asim Rafiqui's dark and gripping images from those areas of Pakistan affected by the earthquake.

In Asim's own hand:

Dear friends,

The tragedy in Pakistan's northern areas and Kashmir continues to unfold though less in the media's eye today than perhaps a couple of weeks ago. Regardless, the situation remains dire and a major donor conference is about to begin to address the threat of the coming himalayan winter. I am continuing my work here in Pakistan and some of my initial images of the situation are now online here.

(Select top picture to see the full set – images are being uploaded every few days)

This is still a work in progress and I will be in the Kashmir region for another couple of weeks at least. Please feel free to share the work with your friends as a way to keep this issue on their minds and in their hearts.

Nothing I write, nothing I photograph can capture what I have seen here. I am currently working in Balakot. The only way to describe that city is to image what an urban center would look like if a giant road rolling machine drove over it. 7 seconds that have devasteted over 3 million people, killed nearly 20,000 school age children alone, and thousands of bodies are still lying under rubble.

More soon,
Asim

A few days back I blogged about how little has been said or done about the earthquake disaster in Pakistan and India. I suggested sending in your donations to SAJA's Reporting Fellowship program so that news events such as this will not be a distant memory in our psyches because the networks have moved on to other juicy stories. But the situation in South Asia is worse than I even imagined.

Katherine Allen sent me a note that I am republishing here:

Dear Friends and Family,

We are very concerned about the lack of mobilization for financial support for the survivors of the horrific earthquake in Pakistan and India on October 8. While we all received many requests and appeals for the Tsunami and Katrina tragedies, we have not received one request for this terrible disaster.

The earthquake killed at least 50,000 people, injured more than 65,000 people, and left more than 3,300,000 people and rising homeless, more than 3 times the number left homeless by the Tsunami disaster. Many say the worst is yet to come. Another 500,000 are not expected to make it through the winter.

We have researched some organizations and sites and encourage you to DONATE NOW! We hope by making this easy for you, you will join us in responding to this critical need to get supplies to people before the harsh winter weather sets in.

Here are four choices that all take donations on-line:

Association for the Development of Pakistan

Association for India's Development

Doctors Without Borders

Oxfam

For a brief slide-show of the destruction and those affected, please go to the following site and click on the earthquake movie.

Thanks for joining us in supporting these organizations that are responding
to this terrible tragedy.

Katherine Allen
Carolyn Gabel-Brett
Tollie Miller

Kanak Mani Dixit, 49, a respected journalist and editor of the influential progressive newsmagazine in Nepal called Himal was arrested and then released. The arrest came soon after Mr. Dixit criticized King Gyanendra. The King recently dissolved the democratically elected government on February 1. Recent events have created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation towards anyone questioning his authority.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has published its condemnation of Mr. Dixit's unwarranted arrest.

What a pity that the Western press has turned a blind eye to what is happening in the only surviving Hindu kingdom on this planet. If anyone of you have read about what is going on there, please send me links to well written and thought out articles.

By the way, I tried linking to Himal magazine, but the link [http://www.himalmag.com/] appears to be dead. That's odd, but I am not surprised that it is off-line. When a repressive government chooses to curb the exchange of ideas, you can bet there is more trouble ahead. Let's hope that the Nepali people find some way to return to democracy once and for all.

Via Sreenath Sreenivasan

LexisNexis has launched a free online resource called LexisNexis U.S. Politics & World News, which provides updated news stories on the Bush administration, notable political figures, Iraq, and more from over 4,000 U.S. and International news sources. Special coverage on the Tsunami Disaster is currently featured on the site.

Please visit the SAJA web site for updates to evolving stories about the disaster in South and South East Asia. If you are a journalist aching to find a local angle or a different perspective, there are people and resources that can help you. The blog, Southeast Asia Earthquake and Tsunami (SEA-EAT) remains one of the best with updated information.

Some journalists/writer friends who have already addressed this global catastrophe:

Shankar Vedantam, Suketu Mehta, Sumathi Reddy. You may have to register with each of those sites to read the articles.

I'll do my best to keep adding names and links to desi writers. If you know of any, please add it to the comment section below (please provide the correct name of the writer, the publication and the entire or snipped link).

Please consider donating to the Tsunami Relief Fund.