Student groups fundraise for Nepal earthquake relief efforts

UCLA students and organizations are selling merchandise and encouraging online donations to collect relief money for Nepal after another earthquake struck the eastern part of the country Tuesday.

The 7.3-magnitude earthquake killed 65 people and injured 1,988 more, according to The New York Times. About three weeks ago, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck northwest of the nation’s capital, Kathmandu, with a death toll that had reached 8,159 people and was expected to rise.

After the first earthquake, a group of students organized My Dollar For Nepal, an online campaign to send funds to Nepal, said Sherwin Tavakol, a fourth-year French student and campaign organizer.

Students have raised about $900 of their $10,000 goal, and Tavakol said he hopes to use a hashtag to further promote their efforts on Facebook.

Naeha Lakshmanan, a third-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student who has family in Kathmandu, said she was still reeling from the shock of the first earthquake when the second one hit.

“A lot of people, family and friends, had gone to Nepal to start the relief efforts,” Lakshmanan said. “So not only were we worried about everyone we knew there, but now (we were worried about) the people who had gone there for relief efforts as well.”

Lakshmanan said she was able to call her family after the first earthquake, but after the second, phone lines were down and she was not able to reach them. She added she hoped to help get the word out by volunteering for My Dollar For Nepal, because she thinks even $1 can make a significant difference.

Tavakol said the student organizers will send funds to the Persian American Society of Health Advancement, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization that co-sponsors the campaign. The organization works to provide clean water, primary health care, trauma care and improved infrastructure in affected areas, he said.

The organization sent workers to Nepal to re-evaluate which regions require more assistance and determine where donations should be directed, Tavakol said.

UCLA student groups also initiated fundraising efforts.

The UCLA chapter of Project RISHI, Rural India Social and Health Improvement, is a nonprofit organization that intends to provide assistance to rural Indian communities. The second earthquake spurred a push toward relief efforts, said Archana Reddy, a third-year biology and sociology student and vice president of Project RISHI.

Rafay Haseeb, a third-year political science student and president of Indus, a South Asian campus group, said Project RISHI organizers collaborated with students from Indus to sell wristbands and tank tops to raise aid funds. He added they have raised almost $2,000 for Sahayeta, a nonprofit organization which provides tents, medical equipment and food and improves water sanitation in Nepal’s rural areas.

Haseeb said he is supportive of the My Dollar for Nepal campaign but expressed concern that too many different fundraisers could confuse possible donors.

“The next phase is to get involved with people who started the (My Dollar for Nepal) campaign,” Haseeb said. “It would be a great continuation of our fundraising efforts.”