WILMINGTON, Mass. -- The astounding images coming in from south Asia have been a driving force behind a local charity effort.

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NewsCenter 5's Frank Field reported that two students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology raised quite a bit of money in a short amount of time.

Anand Sivaraman and Shailja Pathania are volunteers with the Boston chapter of the Association for India's Development, a non-profit group of students and professionals with more than 40 different chapters across different cities in the U.S.

The group's Web site has had so much traffic that is has crashed several times. The group is providing people around the world access to vital information about the aftermath of the tsunamis.

"For us it is the fact that it is nice you can tell people at ground level that they are all there with you. We may not be there, but we have partners, as well as volunteers, working directly with you right now," said Sivaraman.

Sometimes the volunteers are right there, with some spending their vacation visiting development projects in India.

"That is what you bring back to the group when you come back to the U.S. or to your chapter -- you bring that whole interaction back in you and you now involve the whole group together," said Pathania.

So far, the association has raised nearly $500,000 to provide relief to the tsunami victims in India.

"It goes beyond just the immediate families. The extended families are just as important to us. It is like we have to act," said Sivaraman.