Earthquake in South Asia, College responds

Asya Magazinnik Guest Writer

On Oct. 8, an earthquake of 7.6 magnitude struck Pakistan, causing almost 70,000 deaths and widespread damages that may require a decade to repair. The shocks of the earthquake reached India and Afghanistan as well.

The epicenter of the earthquake was near Muzafarrabad, the capital of the region of Kashmir that is governed by Pakistan. In this region, approximately 54,000 people have died and left up to three million homeless. The earthquake impaired Pakistan’s water, electricity, and communication infrastructure, caused landslides that have blocked the roads and demolished the region’s hospitals.

As of Oct. 26, aid from the United Nations and other international donors totaled $800 million. This sum would normally sustain many Pakistanis, but the amount of funding that must be devoted to rebuilding infrastructure before individuals can be helped renders the international aid lacking.
Amitava Kumar, a professor in the English department who worked as a reporter in the nearby region of India-ruled Kashmir, expounded upon the scope of this tragedy. “There are towns in the northern part of the state in the area most affected by the earthquake, where people would tell me about their relatives on the other side,” said Kumar. “It was nearly impossible to be with the other members of your divided family if they lived on the other side...you could not be with the people you loved.”

“It is against that background that I understand the statements being made by people that the earthquake has not respected the official border between the two warring states,” Kumar continued. “Statements like this underline a great deal of pain. There can be no doubt, therefore, that the recent events in Kashmir are a double-tragedy.”

On Oct. 26, College President Fran Fergusson sent a community-wide e-mail urging Vassar students to contribute to relief efforts. She wrote, “As most of you are aware, a terrible earthquake recently hit Kashmir, with devastating results…In recent months, we have seen many tragedies worldwide and, sadly, we have become less responsive to the crying human needs that have emerged. I would like to urge you to take action.”

But Haniya Mir ’07, who is abroad this semester, was dissatisfied with Vassar’s response to the tragedy.

Over October break, she sent an e-mail to campus organizations, including South Asian Students Alliance (SASA), Vassar International Students Association (VISA), and Asian Students Alliance (ASA), to try to galvanize campus relief efforts.

She later said in an e-mailed statement, “I wrote that e-mail because even though I am JYA for the semester, I was still deeply disappointed by the complete apathy of the Vassar community with regard to the earthquake. The earthquake hit Pakistan and India on 10/8 and as of the day I wrote that e-mail, a few weeks had passed without any response from anyone at Vassar.”

She added, “While I don’t think that the destructive impact of natural disasters can be [or] should be compared, the UN has gone as far as to say that the situation at hand is much worse than the aftermath of the tsunami...These people had very little to begin [with] and are now expected to bear out the Himalayan winter in tents—of which there may not even be enough to go around.”

Hamzah Saif ’06, who has been active in coordinating campus relief efforts, added, “The problem is that there’s so much that’s happened recently that everyone’s become a little jaded…too much has happened for people to be able to take this as seriously as they would have otherwise.”

In fact, the earthquake hit just as the Global Relief Group (formerly the Tsunami Relief Task Force) was coordinating relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Dilkushi Poovendran ’07, one of the leaders of the organization, said, “We got together when Katrina happened and we were working on a Katrina benefit dinner when the earthquake happened…we had a donation box set up in the College Center and we were considering using the box for earthquake fundraising, but we didn’t want them competing against each other.”

“There have been so many devastations occurring all around the world, and it’s so hard to prioritize one over the other,” continued Poovendran.

According to Saif, organizations such as the ASA, SASA, and the Global Relief Group are in the process of organizing events including a candlelight vigil to be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the quad on Wednesday, Nov. 2, a bracelet sale in the College Center, and a community dinner in the Villard Room with possible participation of professors from Bard and Marist.

“There was no group that was immediately clamoring for an organizational role,” said Nick Lehmann ’06. “[Relief efforts] have been a bit slow, but they’re finally coming together.”