HSPH Students Organize Support for India Earthquake Relief
When MPH student Krishna Jafa heard about the devastating earthquake that rocked her native India on January 26, she wanted to help. She just wasn't sure how. Jafa didn't know anyone personally in the quake, but as a budding public health professional, she thought she could organize some sort of small-scale relief effort.
Jafa
shared her impulse with classmate and fellow MPH student, Orode Doherty,
and they hatched a plan. After getting the greenlight from HSPH officials,
Jafa and Do-herty posted flyers and sent e-mails asking for donations.
The response came quickly. Other students asked what they could do to
help. Volunteers manned a table outside of Sebastian's cafeteria in between
classes. The Student Coordinating Committee contacted its members to ask
for support.
"At no stage were we working alone," said Jafa. "Everybody pulled together."
Over the course of two-and-a-half weeks, the students raised nearly $4,000, much of which came from student donations, said Jafa.
The money will be sent to CARE, one of the world's largest private international relief and development organizations, which is working to help the quake survivors.
Officials estimated that 50,000 people died in the earthquake, which measured 7.9 on the Richter scale. The quake was the worst natural disaster in the history of the country.
Jafa and Doherty said the fundraising effort made them feel good about helping others and dovetailed perfectly with what they are learning at HSPH.
Both
are currently taking a disaster management class with Jennifer Leaning,
professor in the Department of Population and International Health, and
director of the Humanitarian Crises and Human Rights Program at the FXB
Center. The students put instruction effectively into action.
Now, they said, they are talking to other students about creating a more formal disaster relief group. It would involve people from several schools in order to respond more easily to catastrophes in other areas of the world.
Anyone interested in donating money to help the survivors can visit
the CARE website at www.care.org or
contact Jafa at kjafa@hsph.harvard.edu.
