Local response to appeals for victims of a recent series of earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons in Asia has resulted in a rising tide of financial donations and assistance inquiries, say regional emergency relief coordinators.

"We've got a large Asian community in Southern California. A lot of people are calling to ask what they can do," said Jim DeHarpporte, West Coast regional director for Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' international relief and development organization.

He noted CRS has started receiving financial contributions toward recovery efforts in earthquake-devastated Indonesia, tsunami-battered Samoa and typhoon-racked Vietnam and the Philippines. As of Oct. 6, according to Mark Melia, deputy vice president of charitable giving, CRS had received more than $200,000 in online donations for Asian disaster relief.

Currently, CRS is providing disaster relief supplies in Indonesia --- where a series of earthquakes beginning Sept. 30 has left hundreds dead and thousands homeless --- and continuing its efforts toward helping disaster victims in the Philippines, Vietnam and Samoa.

In the Philippines, CRS is assisting victims of Typhoon Ketsana (known locally as Ondoy), who fled their homes following massive flooding caused by the tropical storm as it swept across the main island of Luzon in late September, claiming the lives of 288 people and sending 370,147 people to evacuation shelters. Last weekend's Typhoon Parma in the Philippines caused more flooding in the rural areas north of the capital in Manila.

On Oct. 2, the archdiocesan leadership team sent a FAX to all local parishes recommending that donations for Asian disaster relief be sent to Baltimore-based CRS, which has mobilized its international staff and Caritas Catholic church partners to help the disaster victims.

Cora Soriano, president of the Los Angeles Filipino Association of City Employees, said response to a request for disaster relief donations emailed Oct. 2 to LAFACE members has been positive. "It looks promising," said Soriano, a parishioner at Sacred Heart Church in Covina. We've already received quite a few checks."

She noted Sacred Heart's pastor, Father Bill Easterling, told parishioners at last weekend's Masses about the archdiocesan-supported appeal for disaster donations through CRS, which can be made by phone, online, or by mail. Donors can indicate at the bottom of their check where they wish their funds to go: Philippine relief '09; Tsunami relief; or Earthquake relief.

Good Shepherd Sister Mary Christina Sevilla, director of the archdiocesan Office of Filipino Ministry, has been collecting donations for typhoon victims since Sept. 27, the day after 16.7 inches of rain pelted the Philippines leading to the worst flooding in nearly half a century.

Francis Anunciacion, president of the Filipino Community of St. Margaret Mary Church in Lomita, shared with Sister Sevilla in an email Sept. 29 that relatives back in Marikina had lost everything in Typhoon Ondoy. "We will send our support to our kababayan in Marikina through the help of our Marikina Association of America California Chapter," said Anunciacion.

With disabled medical facilities in Manila and sewage polluting neighborhoods, Operation USA, a non-profit international relief and development agency based in Culver City, is collecting much-needed medicine, water purification tablets and sleeping mats for disaster victims.

Neil Frame, vice president of procurement & logistics for Operation USA, said they advise donors to buy large, uniform quantities of recommended items, such as 100-ft. rolls of heavy duty, ultraviolet protected plastic sheeting.

"The focus here is on a certain core group of useful products in large quantities," said Frame, a parishioner at St. Charles Borromeo Church in North Hollywood. People recovering from disasters, he notes, need shelter items and new hand tools such as shovels, picks and saws to rebuild. He advises donors to call for recommended items which can be added to the pallets Operation USA is preparing to ship overseas.

In a recent posting on the CRS website, CRS president Ken Hackett pledges long-term help to "our brothers and sisters who are in dire need.… The emergency phase of these disasters will pass quickly," he says. "But the recovery phase will go on for many months."