The Sri Lankan relief effort in Bermuda (www.bdahelpsrilanka.org) suffered a minor setback yesterday after being told by the Government to register their charity before collecting any donations.

A group of concerned Sri Lankan workers on the Island had met on December 16, only hours after the tsunami hit Sri Lanka, and decided to raise funds to help the more than 1,7-million people left homeless in their native country.

However, due to the fact that most Government offices were closed until Wednesday this week, they were unable to register the charity before putting out an appeal for funds.

All applications for new charities are considered by a special committee which only meets on the second Tuesday of every month.

Mr. Rafique said yesterday that they were filling out all the necessary paperwork and would do whatever they could to be registered as an official charity as soon as possible.

But he was worried that it would take too long.

"Our people back home don't have time. There are more than 30,000 people dead in Sri Lanka and 1,7 million are homeless, we need to do something as soon as possible!" he said.

He said they'd received an amazing response from the public who wanted to donate thousands of Dollars, but said all they could do was wait.

Ministry of Health spokeswoman Beverly Morfitt confirmed yesterday that the application would have had to wait until January 7 for consideration, but said that in special circumstances, as was the case with this one, applications could be expedited and it was simply a matter of filling out an additional form at the Registry General.

She said as is the case with Mr. Rafique's group and the enormity of their plight, special consideration would be given.

Since Monday is a public holiday, Bermuda Help Sri Lanka, could be only be registered by the end of next week.