University of Cincinnati Medical Center transplant specialist Dr. Thav Thambi-Pillai says things were bad enough in his native Sri Lanka before a tsunami killed thousands of people Dec. 26.
"Twenty years of civil war had radically changed things for the worse," he said. "Then came the tsunami, and Sri Lanka was absolutely not prepared for a disaster of that magnitude."

That's why the Blue Ash resident is spearheading a fund-raising effort to help disaster victims in the island country off India's southern tip.

Thambi-Pillai is a director of the International Medical Health Organization, a charity set up before the tsunami to improve health care in northeast Sri Lanka.

He is asking people to go to the group's Web site at www.imhousa.org and make a donation to tsunami relief efforts.

It's one of a number of options that people who want to give to the relief effort have in Greater Cincinnati.

SOURCE:
http://www.cincypost.com/2005/01/06/surg010605.html