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Headline: Hope still thrives in devastated region
Source: Wiltshire Times. 21 January 2005 at http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/wiltshire/trowbridge/news/TROW_NEWS_LOCAL7.html
A doctor who went to India to help with relief work after the tsunami disaster on Boxing Day will spend the rest of the year touring schools and churches to raise awareness of the need for further aid.
Dr Joel Almeida, of Wingfield Road, returned from southern India on Saturday.
He flew out shortly after the catastrophe to set up a health surveillance system for the devastated region.
He said: "When I got out at the railway station at about 5am it was like a refugee camp. There were entire families sleeping there whose homes have been washed away."
He was in Nagapattinam, a district of Tamil Nadu, one of India's worst affected areas, where 6,000 people, nearly a third of the local population, died.
Dr Almeida, who is originally from India but now lives with his British wife and children in Trowbridge, thinks the death toll will rise as schools go back and missing youngsters are discovered.
"Children under five were the hardest hit because they had very few survival skills," he said.
But among the deep grief and destruction Dr Almeida said there were inspiring signs of hope and passionate efforts to provide aid to those suffering from the tsunami's aftermath.
He said: "People there are working with fire and passion. They start at about 7am and keep going until about 2am the following day and they keep going like that day after day.
"It is as though a tsunami of love has swept over the area. I think these were some of the best days of my life because I expected devastation and grief and I found these but what I did not expect was all the love and devotion."
His disease surveillance system has already been used to bring an outbreak of dysentery under control and he has trained local people to continue its work.
Dr Almeida plans to devote 2005 to raising funds for the relief work and believes India alone will need billions of pounds to rebuild its communities.
He said: "My head is bursting with the richness of experience there. These were unforgettable days, not only because of the tragedy but the response to the tragedy."
He will give his first talk at St John The Baptist Roman Catholic Church, Trowbridge at 7.30pm next Friday.
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Headline: 'Houses were a mass of rubble'
By Trevor Brookes
Source: Bath Chronicle. 20 January 2005 at http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=163061&command=displayContent&sourceNode=163044&contentPK=11680410&moduleName=InternalSearch&keyword=Almeida&formname=sidebarsearch
Local musician Dr Joel Almeida has returned from a ten-day aid stint in the grief-stricken district of Nagapattinam, on the east coast of India.
There, on the small stretch of coastline, the death toll was 6,000.
As a public health specialist, he organised the setting up of a computer system, which collected information from 43 health centres to preempt the spread of disease.
He said: "We were working under tremendous pressure from 6am to 2am the next morning. But the system ran smoothly.
"I will always remember the faces and stories of so many people who had experienced tragedy."
Dr Almeida told the tale of a mother who lost three out of her four children, her own mother and sister in ten minutes.
The doctor said: "That is unimaginable. It's is people like her that I'm determined to help."
Dr Almeida's work will not finish yet, though.
The proceeds of his latest album, Turn Of The Dream, which will be on sale in shops in March, will go towards the aid effort.
He is also contacting British stars, including Jamie Cullum, Will Young and Katie Melua, to make a charity single.
"I wrote a song called Love Is Everything.
"I hope we can sing it as a gesture of solidarity," he said. ======================================================= The title of his album is actually Turn On The Dream
