HONG KONG (AP): Indonesians working in Hong Kong have pitched in to help their tsunami-hit homeland, offering prayers and donating money from their modest salaries, a group said on Monday.
About 90,000 Indonesian maids work in this wealthy territory, and most hail from the island of Java, spared by the magnitude-9.0 quake that struck off Sumatra island, causing killer tsunamis.
Still, they have rallied around compatriots who fell victim to the disaster, a maid organizer said Monday.
Eni Lestari Andayani, chairwoman of Hong Kong’s Association of Indonesian Migrant workers, said, “We feel that this is also our duty to help.”
Indonesia’s death toll from the earthquake and tsunami stands at more than 94,000. Andayani said several Indonesian maids in Hong Kong have relatives who either died or went missing.
Andayani said her group raised 20,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$2,600; euro1,900) from Indonesian maids, their employers and local Indonesian businessman Saturday and Sunday.
