With an estimated 150,000 dead and over 500,000 injured as a result of the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia, the Dartmouth community is staging efforts to provide relief to victims in the affected regions.
In a meeting Monday afternoon, a group of students, faculty and staff formulated ideas about ways in which the Dartmouth community could contribute to the relief effort. Shortly after the tsunami, College President James Wright began receiving BlitzMail messages from various students and faculty members asking how Dartmouth could get involved in the relief effort.
These multiple queries, along with Wright's feeling that the College should mobilize quickly, led to Monday's meeting and plans for a second meeting Tuesday night, during which leaders of student organizations will be able to share information about any fundraising plans they have already made. There are also plans for a community forum to be held in Alumni Hall Thursday afternoon.
In addition to furthering the relief effort, Wright hopes that the College will begin to educate students about the issues that residents of affected regions now face and encourage them to take action. Wright and Board of Trustees Chair William Neukom have said they will be the first private contributors to the College's relief effort.
Even before Monday's meeting, some Greek organizations were already organizing grassroots efforts to aid victims. Psi Upsilon fraternity is spearheading a weeklong drive beginning Wednesday and hopes to collect at least $1,500 to be donated to the American Red Cross. Psi U Programming Chair Jason Edgar '05 has asked that other Greek houses donate money to the effort, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Kappa Kappa Kappa and Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternities plan to participate in the drive.
Daniel Choi '05, a member of Tri-Kap, said that his fraternity will support any fundraising efforts.
"I suspect that all the Greeks will be united in this cause," he said.
It is unlikely, however, that Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity will contribute to the Psi U drive. Sig Ep is planning a separate fundraising effort, a benefit concert in the house's basement. The event is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 15, and tickets will be $5 in advance and $7 at the door. Contributions will likely be donated to Doctors Without Borders, an organization that aids disaster victims worldwide.
"The Greek system's approach to charity tends to be just throw money at it from within the house accounts, which is good, but it doesn't get anyone involved," said Mat Brown '05, Sig Ep's vice president of programming. "We're trying to show with this event that the Greek system can raise money while raising awareness."
Others affiliated with Dartmouth are opting for a hands-on approach.
Northwest Medical Teams International, an organization that provides relief services similar to Doctors Without Borders, counts Dean Seibert, a professor emeritus at Dartmouth Medical School, as one of its on-site volunteers. Seibert, who has volunteered abroad with Northwest Medical Teams before, left his home in Norwich, Vt., on Sunday to begin a month-long rescue mission in Sumatra, the Indonesian island where the devastation has been the most widespread.
Seibert will be working to analyze the situation in Sumatra in order to provide information for groups of volunteers who will be dispatched in coming weeks. He will also administer medical assistance directly to those who were wounded in the disaster.
While he agrees that providing aid to the tsunami victims is certainly an urgent issue, biology professor Lee Witters believes that there are other equally pressing situations that have been occurring and will continue to occur throughout the world.
"Obviously this is a very loud emergency and one that deserves our attention, but we need to keep in mind in the long-run that it's going to be a quiet and sustained one, and there are a lot of ongoing quiet emergencies around the world," Witters said.
