Woodbridge, NJ: Due to a massive fire accident in Avenel, NJ, Colonial Gardens Apartment building was burnt to ashes on Wednesday. More than 90% of the affected 52 families are of Telugu origin. Damage was very extensive and cause of the fire is unknown and still being investigated. Fortunately, everybody living in the apartment building complex has been evacuated safely. Unfortunately, they have lost all of their belongings including furniture, gold, clothes and documents like passports, visas, vehicle registration certificates etc.

TANA President Prasad Thotakura expressed his deepest condolences to the effected people and assured that TANA Team Square volunteers would do their best in contacting concerned officials to help the victims. Prasad contacted and updated Honorable NJ Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula regarding the incident, who in turn visited the scene, met with the affected families and extended all his help to ease the situation. Chinna Vasudeva Reddy, Joint Secretary of TANA, Laxmi Devineni, Chairman of TANA Legal Services and Honorable Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula have visited the affected families and extended their help in bringing the situation to normalcy as fast as possible. They made sure all the families are safe and have food and shelter.

TANA team, with the additional help of Mohan Nannapaneni, TANA EVP, and Anjaiah Chowdary Lavu, TANA Team Square Chairman is working with the Indian consulate and INS officials in getting the lost passport and immigration documents of victims as soon as possible. They are also in touch with the local Mayor's office, Police for expediting the process of getting Driver's Licenses, SSNs and other official documents lost in the fire. "Though people have lost all of their belongings, It's very fortunate that everybody is safe and fully accounted for, in such a massive blaze", said Vasudeva Reddy Chinna. With the help of more than 10 TANA volunteers, Laxmi is providing the needed emotional support to the effected families.

TANA, a dedicated community organization has been in the forefront in helping the Telugu community for over 35 years in the North America and Andhra Pradesh. For more information, please visit www.tana.org.