We are told that tents, especially larger tents for schools and community centers, are still in SERIOUS SHORT SUPPLY. People are already tired of staying under tarps; they are unable to get schools started; and some of them do not have access to larger spaces for community meetings. ANY ONE WILLING TO PAY FOR or DESPATCH SUCH TENTS (poles can be procured locally), dhurries and chatais (bamboo mats) ARE ENCOURAGED TO DO SO IMMEDIATELY. PLEASE CONTACT SEWA (they need about 50 large tents) and UNNATI at the numbers given below.

Suggestions:

a. Foreign donors, please do not ship expensive tents. Coordinate with an Indian NGO to purchase canvas tents locally and ship them ASAP,

b. If you can't ship tents, ship double-layered canvas cloth, and local NGOs such as UNNATI can have tents custom-stitched in Ahmedabad (provides employment),

c. No more tarps, as they won't survive the monsoon! [BHOOMIKA TRUST and ICA California:

After paying for the 1,000 ration kits from Chennai (approx Rs. 10 lakhs), we will have Rs. 5-6 lakhs left. Should we invest part of it in supplying tents? We can discuss this later among our e-groups. Also, we can coordinate with the Indian Express people and the Round Table to see if they want to help ship tents.]