Grad student Shankar Kalyanaraman distributes information at a table set up in Chandler Dining Hall. The fund-raising effort for tsunami victims raised nearly $2,000 in three days.

Campus provides tsunami relief

In response to last month’s Indian Ocean tsunamis that ravaged coastal towns from South Asia to Africa, Caltech students and staff members have come together to dig into their pockets for donations to assist the survivors.

Although the cataclysm that killed an estimated 150,000 people occurred on the far side of the world, the spirit of giving is alive and well here on campus, says Shankar Kalyanaraman, a graduate student in computer science and member of the Organization of Associated Students from the Indian Subcontinent (OASIS), which took the lead in organizing the Caltech Tsunami Relief Effort.

On January 5, the day the fund-raising effort began, donors gave a total of $1,000 at tables set up at the Red Door and Broad Cafés. At the end of two soggy days, the Caltech community had donated $1,860. In addition to the money, staff and students were also willing to donate something more valuable: their time.

“The volunteer response was really awesome this week,” Kalyanaraman says. “We had 40 to 50 people volunteering at the tables, and I had to turn away some people because we didn’t have any spots for them.” Information and donation tables will be set up through January 14.

“Right now we’re just concentrating on cash donations because we researched what the aid organizations needed and they said cash was best,” he adds, noting that sending donations of materials and equipment to the region is not feasible at the moment.

“Our original idea was to focus on the rebuilding effort and on education programs for the children that have been affected,” he says. The aid organizations chosen to receive donations include Asha for Education, an all-volunteer agency that promotes basic education in India, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). A third, Architecture for Humanity, is a nonprofit organization of architects.

“They are looking at building medical clinics and schools,” Kalyanaraman explains. “They have done work in Kosovo and in Bam, Iran, after the earthquake there.” Additional groups that people can direct money to, he says, include AID India, Save the Children, Direct Relief, Sarvodaya (a Sri Lankan group), the Indonesian Red Cross, and the Berkeley-based Seva Foundation.

Assisting OASIS with the relief effort are Building Bridges, the Caltech Christian Fellowship, the Caltech Democratic Club, the Caltech Y, Graphic Resources and Mail Services, Health Education, and International Student Programs. Working with Student Affairs, the coalition was given the green light to hold a fund-raiser in Beckman Auditorium on January 23 that will feature dance groups from India.

In an e-mail to the campus, President David Baltimore lauded the relief coalition and encouraged community members to donate. In addition, he wrote, Caltech is recognizing OASIS for its lead role in the effort by giving $20,000 to the American Red Cross relief fund.

As a further incentive to donors, Congress recently signed a law giving taxpayers until January 31 to donate to tsunami relief and claim a deduction for the 2004 tax year.

The Caltech Tsunami Relief Effort’s online site contains links to information about the disaster at www.caltechy.org/tsunami/index.html.
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