After a devastating tsunami pounded the coastlines of Southeast Asia on December 26, killing at least 140,000 people and displacing millions more, the world has been transfixed by horrific images of the damage on TV and in newspapers. For many, including some at U of T, the horror has been much closer to home.
“Most of the Sri Lankans I know, including myself, have a connection with someone in Sri Lanka who is still missing or did not survive the tsunami,” said Charnika De Almeida, the president of the Sri Lankan Students’ Association.
“I have many friends who lost a lot of loved ones, and not just Sri Lankans but also Indians and Indonesians,” said Kumaran Nadesan, a U of T student who was born in Sri Lanka and moved to Canada seven years ago. “My family is from the North, in Jaffna, which is more inland, so we weren’t affected-except for my aunt who lives in an affected area, but she’s okay.”
The Thai Students’ Association of U of T urged students to donate through their web site. A link will be provided to the Thai embassy where money can be donated online.
One member of the Thai association had a father in Phuket at the time, said Nipapatra Vanakijpaibul, the president, but he was not injured.
“I have a lot of Sri Lankan friends who were talking about going back during the holidays,” said James Sawyer, who was helping out at the International Students’ Centre on Monday. “And after hearing about the disaster I was really worried about them, until I saw them at school today. My Sri Lankan friends motivated me to get involved with the Red Cross.”
A Sri Lankan student who declined to be identified said: “It’s all about basic humanitarian needs over there right now and the worst thing is that sometimes local politics hurts the relief efforts. In [the Indonesian province] Aceh, only a few NGOs are even allowed in and many of those are being either impeded or diverted because some people in positions of power want help to go to their families first. The result is that sometimes the help doesn’t get to those that need it the most.”
U of T officials said that as of Monday they knew of no U of T staff, students, or faculty members who were killed or missing in the disaster.
“We’re now looking at how to help staff or students who may have family in the affected areas and who may need to be away,” said Vice-Provost Students David Farrar.
The daunting scope of the task hasn’t discouraged U of T groups and individuals, however, who are already engaged in fundraising to help those in stricken areas.
The Students’ Administrative Council is planning to distribute flyers containing information about the crisis to students in the lineup to buy discounted Metropasses.
“We are going to have people going through the line, talking about what happened and asking for donations” said Lisa Aldridge, SAC’s VP Operations. SAC is also participating in a forum aimed at helping student organizations coordinate their relief efforts. Although it is still in the planning stages, SAC VP External Sam Rahimi has high hopes for the group.
“There are so many student groups doing so many things all at the same time,” said Rahimi. He hopes that a more integrated effort between student groups will result in more effective fundraising and more donations.
Acting U of T president Frank Iacobucci issued a statement on Monday morning expressing support for the families of the dead and missing, and encouraging the community to continue donating to aid agencies.
“The University wishes to express its heartfelt sympathy to our students, faculty, staff, alumni and the many who have suffered so greatly as a result of the tsunamis in Asia,” the statement read.
Vice-Provost Farrar told The Varsity that U of T was considering how it could help the affected countries long-term, but was not currently planning to donate money.
“[Funding humanitarian missions] isn’t an area the university tends to get involved in,” said Farrar. U of T may decide to partner with universities in the affected countries, Farrar suggested, although he cautioned that hard decisions on U of T’s course of action had not been made.
The deadly tsunami that swept the Indian Ocean on December 26 was caused by one of the biggest earthquakes ever reported, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, the strongest since an Alaskan quake in 1964. The most dangerous part of undersea earthquakes is not the shaking, but the subsequent tsunami (Japanese for “harbour wave”), that in this case came with devastating speed and power to the coasts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Maldives, and East Africa. The surge of water sped at 800 km/h and in some areas was 30 feet high, as tall as a three-storey house. The power of the wave propelled it, in some cases, kilometres inland, washing away whole villages and the people that lived there. Aid agencies have already described it as the worst natural disaster in recorded history.
Even amidst such loss, however, De Almeida of the Sri Lankan Students’ Association said she felt gratified by the huge level of international support
“The immediate outpouring of aid from around the world proves that in the face of tragedy, people are able to come together with generosity and compassion.”
