Student clubs are among the many local and national organizations that have begun organizing relief efforts for the regions of Pakistan and Kashmir that were devastated by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake over a week ago.
As national organizations like the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and UNICEF are working to deliver aid to South Asia, the South Asian Student Association is working to raise money to send to the ravaged areas.
The group is putting donation boxes in each of the residence halls, said Anisa Ismail, president of SASA and a junior in the School of International Service.
"I want to work and do every little bit I can do to help," she said. "It is still very shocking just thinking about the sheer number of people affected. It was so sudden - it just wiped out entire villages."
SASA is also hosting a cultural festival in early November where students will have another chance to donate money and supplies.
Taiba Munir, the treasurer of SASA and a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, is from the region and has a cousin who is in a hospital after being severely injured in the earthquake.
"The schools and universities are made out of cement," she said. "When it collapses, you're dead."
Direct Relief is a national relief group based in California that is sending money and partnering with many U.S. corporations to send medical and financial help to the areas affected by the earthquake.
They are working with Johnson and Johnson, as well as local Pakistani and Kashmiri relief agencies, to get aid where it is needed most. Within the next few days, they will send a coordinator to South Asia to decide where the organization's shipments of supplies will go to help with the relief, said Direct Relief Vice President of Programs Chris Brady.
"Our partners are ready to donate materials, but they want us to find out exactly what is needed," he said. "We want to stay and help as long as we can play a role."
The Pakistani Embassy in D.C. is also working closely with the American government to help orchestrate aid to Pakistan. President Bush visited the embassy Friday and said he would do whatever he could to help with the relief efforts, said Nadneem Kieani, press secretary for the embassy.
"I think people are reacting with sympathy for the victims ... and if they want to contribute or donate anything, they can contact us," Kieani said. "It was very devastating - millions of people have been uprooted."
This earthquake produced the greatest seismic force the countries have seen in decades. At least 79,000 people have died as a result of the earthquake and thousands more are injured. There were two aftershocks yesterday afternoon that measured 5.8 and 5.6 on the Richter scale.
On Friday, the United Nations called the earthquake more devastating than the South Asian tsunami last December.
