Even tens and thousands of miles away, the effect of the devastating earthquake that hit Pakistan and India Oct. 8 could pack a terrible, direct, emotional wallop, as Oakland, Calif.-based activist and poet Ali Hasan Cemantdaur found out.

He began calling his relatives in Karachi frequently after learning that his
brother's sister-in-law Ruby and her two children, aged 1 and 2, are trapped in the collapsed 12-story Margala Tower in Islamabad.

Her father-in-law's body was recovered Oct. 10 night under a structure in
the building.

The weekend tremor, registering 7.6 on the Richter scale, is South Asia's worst in a century, and has killed at least 1,244 people in Indian Kashmir and may have killed up to 41,000 in Pakistani Kashmir and Pakistan, according to Reuters.

As South Asian organizations appealed for aid, savvy Internet users have decided to put the global information network at work. Sabahat Ashraf, a Silicon Valley-based technical writer who lives in San Jose, Calif., decided to use the Internet.

"I've always felt that even if one is far one is not powerless," the
expatriate Pakistani told India-West. "There's quite a bit of stuff one can
do."

He decided to go into action as soon as he heard about the earthquake. "When I heard about the earthquake Friday night, I immediately created a (Web) page and sent a link around, because that was my first reaction." His page is linked to Wikipedia, the celebrated online encyclopedia that is edited and updated by the online community.

"The advantage of doing it in a wiki format is that anyone can come and edit and add information. That's become quite a resource. It's been good to know that we've been able to help and coordinate and get information and now it's become an interesting place."

A number of organizations have been busy raising funds and disbursing aid to earthquake victims. Santa-Clara, Calif.-based Hidaya Foundation has stepped up its donation from $125,000 to $500,000 with the intent to reach its goal of collecting $1.5 million, Faraz Hoodbhoy, its marketing director, told India-West. The group is working with local chapters in Pakistan with 300 doctors to provide relief to victims.

Other organizations collecting donations and supplies include Karachi-based Edhi International Foundation, which has a New York chapter. Donations for the Edhi Foundation earthquake relief efforts can be made via the Association for the Development of Pakistan Web site at http://developpakistan.org. ADP has core members in Boston, Lahore and Karachi.

Meanwhile, Fremont, Calif.-based Jeevan Zutshi, founder of the Indo American Community Federation, told India-West that funds raised from the IACF's 10th anniversary multicultural festival Oct. 15 and 16, initially meant to go to support education, will go to earthquake victims instead. Zutshi himself hails from Baramullah, 40 miles north east of Srinagar. It is one of several areas including Poonch and Muzzafarabad that are hardest hit by the quake.

In Southern California, hours after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake wiped out villages along the India-Pakistan border, Muslims, Hindus and others from the Inland Empire with family in the region began raising thousands of dollars to help survivors of the Oct. 8 quake, reported India-West correspondent Michel Potts.

Muslims who gathered for Ramadan prayers at the Islamic Center of Riverside on Oct. 8 donated about $20,000 for relief after learning that one member lost five members of his family in the quake, Mustafa Kuko, director of the center told the Press-Enteprise.

The Pakistan Society of Southern California, based in Redlands, will use a previously scheduled event planned for the end of Ramadan as a fund-raiser for earthquake relief, said Dr. Mohammad Aslam, the group's president.

Inland Hindus, who are nearing the end of a nine-day festival, will raise money as well, said Sunit Gupta, a member of Lakshmi Narayan Mandir, the Hindu temple in Riverside. "Whenever these things happen, we try to help the community," Gupta said by phone.

Just as the Indian government has proffered a helping hand to Pakistan at its time of need, reports of similar united efforts in the U.S. are coming in.

Volunteers for Friends of South Asia, a San Francisco Bay Area-based group that tries to promote understanding between Indians and Pakistanis, "are very involved, but they have been working across the community," said Ashraf. "But others have also helped, people are donating, people are trying to find out and help as much as they can. That has been overwhelming." Volunteers from Association for India's Development, a U.S.-wide nonprofit have offered advice and support. "We have gone through Gujarat and the tsunami, so feel free to call us," an AID volunteer has told Ashraf.

AP adds: The United States is sending cash and eight helicopters, with more military aid on the way, in response to Pakistan's plea for international assistance with earthquake recovery.

"Thousands of people have died, thousands are wounded, and the United States of America wants to help,'' President George W. Bush said from the Oval Office Oct. 9.

Bush called the Oct. 8 quake the worst natural disaster in Pakistan's history.

In Michigan, Dr. Zeenat Anwar of Port Huron is organizing a relief effort as founder of the Human Development Foundation of North America. Also organizing relief efforts are the Canton Township-based Muslim Community of Western Suburbs of Detroit and the Pakistani Students' Association at the University of Michigan.

In New York, "everyone's making phone calls but the lines get tied up,"said Mohammad Razvi, executive director of the Council of Peoples Organization."People right now are just at a loss."

Razvi and other South Asian community leaders pointed out that it is the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a time during which Muslims pay extra attention to charitable giving, so local mosques plan to expand their collection efforts.

Suhail Muzaffar, chairman of the board of Masjid Al Noor of Staten Island, said one challenge was U.S. government restrictions on Islamic charities alleged to have financed terrorist activities. He said he planned to talk to the FBI to get some guidance about which groups Muslims could give to without violating any laws.

(Additional reporting by Michel Potts and Furhana Afrid)