Group to begin Pakistani earthquake relief effort

IU's Pakistani Student Association and other groups will begin a fund-raising effort today to raise money for victims of the earthquakes in South Asia.\nThe movement comes more than two weeks after the 7.6-magnitude quake left an estimated 79,000 people dead and millions more homeless, according to The Associated Press.\nThrough Wednesday, the PSA, along with the volunteers from the Leo R. Dowling International Center, the Kelley School of Business' Civic Leadership Development Program and the Beta Alpha Psi accounting fraternity will be manning five stations throughout campus with the goal of raising $10,000. \nOrganizers say the money is desperately needed in the northern Kashmir region of Pakistan, where some say relief has not come quickly enough. \n"The situation out there, in reality, is worse than anything we've seen in our time," said Hassan Raza, the PSA earthquake committee chair. "The lack of response in the international community is going to cause the death toll to rise much quicker and much larger than it is right now."\nRaza, an Master's of Business Administration student whose family still lives in Islamabad, Pakistan, said $10,000 could make a significant difference in the lives of victims, with every dollar providing three to four meals for a victim. \n"We have so many students on campus," said Sara Qurashi, co-president of the PSA. "If we all came together we could do so much." \nThe affected region, surrounded by the Himalayan Mountains, will be especially vulnerable during the upcoming winter, Raza said. Rain is falling now, he said, and snow and colder temperatures are likely in the upcoming weeks. \n"The hope's dying down because the winter's going to hit that region," he said. "There are still areas where victims haven't been reached since Oct. 8. If you talk to people back home, they'll tell you that these people are going to be buried in the snow."\nThe relief effort comes a little more than a month after the campus gathered together to support fund-raising efforts for victims of Hurricane Katrina, when volunteers sold wristbands and Mardi Gras beads, held concerts and supported efforts through residence halls. Reaction after December's tsunami in Southeast Asia included a Web page (www.indiana.edu/~tsunami) highlighting relief activities, forums, lectures, benefit concerts, a can drive and fund-raising dinners. \nRaza said the PSA's event, to his knowledge, is the first fund-raising attempt for earthquake victims. \n"This is the first and probably the only one because, as far as I know, no organization is actually doing anything other than this event," he said. "We have to create the awareness as opposed to people already knowing about it."\nJunior Catie Eggert, co-president of the Volunteer Students Bureau, which was a major organizing force behind the Katrina relief, said her organization is not currently involved with any relief efforts. \n"We just didn't have a big response coming from our members who wanted to be involved," she said. "Doing the Katrina stuff was so overwhelming we just wanted to step back a little bit."\nDonations from the PSA's drive will be given to the Edhi Foundation, a Pakistan-based nonprofit relief organization, and to the Pakistani President's Earthquake Relief Fund.