Letters of the week - Please give to the cyclone appeal

I'd like to ask your readers to give generously to an appeal for victims of the devastating cyclone in Orissa, India.

At least ten million people have been affected by the disaster. Up to 10,000 are thought dead and two million have lost their homes. People are traumatised, desperately hungry and thirsty. The Disasters Emergency Committee - an alliance of the UK's leading aid charities - needs money to buy food, clean water and medical supplies.

Just £5 will purify a hundred litres of water, £15 will provide medicines to guard 150 men, women and children against disease. If you can, please call 0870 60 60 900 or make a donation at any high street bank or post office. Or send your donation to me, Tom Conti, at The India Cyclone Appeal, PO Box 999, London EC4A 9AA.

Your donations really will make a difference.

TOM CONTI

Actor.

UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, is also appealing for funds for the victims of the cyclone. UNICEF was one of the first agencies to start distributing emergency supplies in the hours after the disaster struck.

They urgently require funds to continue thier work distributing supplies including s heeting, tarpaulins, oral rehydration salts and purification materials to clear wells.

Send donations to UNICEF Orissa Appeal, Room OR, 5, Tanners Lane, Shrewton, Salisbury, Wilts SP3 4JR. Make cheques/postal orders payable to UNICEF.