Rapid response: when the tsunami hit, a suburban community's ties stretched across the globe.

Bhima Reddy has seen a lot in the last month.

On television, he saw a tsunami-decimated field in southern India where he used to play cricket as a boy.

In person, he's witnessed his temple in southwest suburban Lemont join its surrounding community to collect donations for people in need thousands of miles away.

Beginning with descriptive fliers and collection boxes, and ending with an outpouring of money, The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago has tried to help alleviate the pain caused by last month's tsunami, says Reddy, 63, a trustee of the 2,000-member temple.

And Reddy couldn't be more proud.

When the tsunami struck Southeast Asia, southern India and east Africa in late December, temple members, as well as other community residents, began to take action almost "spontaneously," as Reddy put it.

Prayer services were held immediately after the disaster, filling the temple. Other members attended a service the following Sunday, engaging in mass prayer.

The temple began asking devotees for contributions and aid within hours of the tragedy. Fliers were prepared by members to inform people what had happened, notifying them where funds could be sent, and collection boxes were placed throughout the temple.

Then the money poured in.

In two days, the temple generated $23,000 in donations. Now the figure stands closer to $50,000-double the temple's initial target. The new goal has been set at $100,000. And Reddy says some 10 Chicago-area Indian institutions have collected more than $400,000.

The temple's president and vice president were in India to assess the damage and come up with a feasible way to disseminate the funds to the areas in need of it most. By any measure, Reddy says, the temple's contribution-albeit worthy-pales in comparison to the necessities of people in Southeast Asia, India and east Africa.

Reddy recently sat down with The Chicago Reporter to discuss the tragedy and his temple's response to it.

Where were you when you found out about the tsunami?

At my home, at about 8:30 p.m. on Sunday. The first thing I did was to call the people who live in that area and find out how they were doing. The closest relative I have over there is my sister, who lives on the ocean. Lucidly she's about 50 or 60 feet above sea level. The water did not affect her.

I just prayed to God to help these people. This is an absolute disaster, something we've only read about in history books. You feel terrible, mainly helpless. And the next reaction is to help them.

I'm from an area [of India] called Andhra Pradesh. The devastation [in the country] was mostly in the part south of Andhra Pradesh, which is called Tamil Nadu. My first 15 years, I grew up there.

Right now, as I see the pictures on the television and I read the newspaper, it looks like the entire beautiful beach, which is supposed to be the second most beautiful beach in the world after Melbourne, with almost one mile of beautiful sand, it all seems to be gone now. It's just become very muddy. It'll probably never be the way it was before.

My initial reaction was simple: I played there as a kid, as a 10-year-old kid. I couldn't imagine how this beautiful beach was gone. Personally, I can't imagine that the beach will ever be the way it was. I do plan to go there sometime in February or March.

What was the initial reaction from members of the temple?

Everyone said, 'Oh my God, oh my God.' The first question that anybody asked was if anyone had relatives there. And then the number-the number of people who perished in the disaster is the first thing people wanted to talk about.

Many in the Lemont community have donated money.

It was wonderful. Fifty percent came from them, and the other 50 percent came from temple members. That is a wonderful thing. I [am] drafting a letter to the Lemont newspaper thanking all the local people about the donation and mentioning specifically the school that donated this money.

But our $50,000 is a drop in the ocean for what they need. The reaction is good, and they'll do what they can. In my opinion, the rebuilding of this area is not a short-time thing; it will go on for the next 10 years, at least.

Did media coverage play any role in aid efforts?

Yes. For the entire week they talked about donating money. I think the American media's response was as good as could be expected.

But the areas that have been affected are all tourism spots: India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia. So the tourism will suffer and decrease the revenues in those countries because tourism is a big thing in all those four countries, mainly Thailand and Sri Lanka; both have been affected a lot.

In fact, I myself had a plan to go and visit the southern part of India as a pilgrimage. Now I may hesitate to do that for at least another year. I may go there to help, but not as a tourist. I wanted to do that this summer. The pilgrimage is out of the question at this time.

How did your job change since this happened?

I got too busy with the tsunami, so I'm not really able to manage other things. So my time since the tsunami--what used to be an eight-, nine-hour job is now a 14-hour job. That is a change in my life. I think it'll last for a few more days. And then once we collect the funds for transfer, then it will slow down.

Do you think tsunamis will always be on the minds of people there?

It'll be there. In fact, we even heard yesterday that they are being cautioned for another big one. Real or fiction-only time will tell. [The rumors] are flying around all the time for them, and it's going to be a continuous scare for them. Anytime someone says something, they're going to run to the hills for their lives.