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GUESTS: Hamid Khan, Executive Director of the South Asian Network, Marc O’Regan, a volunteer with Operation Heartbeat, a non-profit group of doctors helping with the rebuilding and humanitarian aid in the Kashmir region.

Last year on October 8th a deadly earthquake hit the nation of Pakistan, devastating almost half of the region known as Azad Jammu Kashmir. It registered 7.6 on the moment magnitude scale making it a major earthquake similar in intensity to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. As of November 2005, the official death toll released by the government of Pakistan was 87,350. It is feared that the toll could climb to 100,000. The most affected areas are in mountainous and inaccessible regions. Access to those areas is blocked by landslides. 3.3 million people are estimated to be homeless as a result of the earthquake. According to the United Nations, more than 4 million people are directly affected with the onset of winter. Many of them are at risk of dying from cold and the spread of disease. Here on Uprising, we spoke with Hamid Khan of the South Asian Network, and a local Pakistani man whose family was affected by the earthquake. Hamid went back to his homeland late last year and recorded hours of interviews.

The fundraiser will be held at Viento y Agua Gallery & Coffeeshop on Saturday, February 4th, at 6:00 p.m. Several artists are donating original work for silent auction (all proceeds to be donated). Viento y Agua Gallery & Coffeeshop is located at 4007 East 4th Street, Long Beach, California 90814 (phone 562.434.1182).

For more information contact Jeanne at 714.357.5424, or email aware@burntmail.com

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day:

“The Greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.” — Coretta Scott King