The effects of the recent Indian Ocean tsunami are so great that they have reached the MSU campus and the city of Starkville.
The Dec. 26 tsunami, which struck a 3,000-mile stretch of coast on the Asian continent, has claimed more than 150,000 lives and affected millions more.
Arun Ramakrishnan, president of the India Student Association and native of India, said he was shocked when he first heard about the tsunami.
He was overwhelmed by the devastation. Nothing like this had ever hit India before, he said.
Ramakrishnan is from Chennai, India. The city was struck by the tsunami, but it was not ravaged as many other areas were. The tsunami claimed more than 200 lives in his hometown, he said, and the entire country lost many thousands more.
The ISA was unable to do any organized fundraiser due to the winter break. But now that school has started back, the group will hold a clothing drive to help all of the countries in need, he said.
Ramakrishnan is organizing the clothing drive along with the help of Jaffar Ali Shahul Hameed. The ISA will place collection boxes around the campus at easily accessible locations.
The group is also making an effort to collaborate with other organizations on campus. They hope to hold additional fund-raisers in the future, but these are tentative, he said.
The emotion and action is high at this point, but Ramakrishnan said he hopes that the relief efforts do not die down.
“Don’t stop helping,” Ramakrishnan said, “because five or six months down the road these people will still need help.”
Cerese Teel, the executive director of the Oktibbeha County chapter of the Red Cross, said there have been no organized efforts to raise money to help with the tsunami relief in the area.
People have been sending in spontaneous donations, Teel said, and the Red Cross has simply been trying to inform people about the ways they can donate money.
The organization’s only other task has been processing the money and sending it over to the countries in need.
The Red Cross is only accepting monetary donations, she said, because this provides the fastest way to send the support. Once the money reaches the countries in need, the people that are there providing the relief will then purchase whatever is necessary in that country.
Teel said people in Oktibbeha County are generous because they are quick to respond to others in need. They responded quickly to the Hurricane Ivan relief effort in September and have supported the chapter during several other fundraising events, she said.
“Without being asked, they’re going to respond to people in need,” Teel said.
People in this area are touched by people’s problems that are not their own and respond to that; that’s what makes them generous,” she said.
Marty Evans, president and CEO of Red Cross, said in a news release that over $150 million has already been raised, but that the ultimate goal for Red Cross will be $400 million. The Red Cross has assumed that the disaster will take several years and, with this in mind, has mapped out a plan to help.
Evans said that she is humbled by the generosity of the donors, and she complimented Red Cross workers in the United States and on the frontlines for fighting the effects of the tsunami.
“I have every confidence that we will again meet the needs of the victims in the highest tradition of our mission,” Evans said.
People have been giving anywhere from $10-$500, Teel said, but even the smallest amount will help in the total donor effort to help the tsunami-torn countries of Asia. Anyone can donate to the cause by calling 1-800-HELPNOW, visiting www.redcross.org, or by sending money to the local chapter.