Volunteers across U of T have come together to help those devastated by the large October 8 earthquake that rocked areas in Kashmir, Pakistan, and bordering regions.

Over the past week, our usually fragmented student groups have formed an uncommon coalition, setting up booths to collect donations at Robarts Library, the Bahen Centre, Sidney Smith, the Medical Sciences Building, and at various campus residences.

The earthquake has killed some 54,000 people, wounding thousands more and leaving millions without shelter.

“Many students on campus are directly affected and many more are indirectly affected,” said Raza Siddiqui, co-president of the Pakistani Students Federation (PSF) at U of T.

“I have a friend in the Kashmir but I haven’t been able to get in touch with him since the earthquake.”

The list of campus groups that have committed their time and called on members to help victims is a long one. In addition to the PSF, the Kids In Developing Societies (KIDS) group, the Arts and Sciences Student Union (ASSU), the Muslim Students Association (MSA), Thaqalayan Muslim Association (TMA), Local Actions Impacting Globally (LAIG), Near and Middle Eastern Studies Undergraduate Students Association (NMCUSA) and others have been taking part to various degrees in the fundraising campaign.

Although ASSU and SAC are supporting the coalition, neither is officially involved until they are able to meet with their respective executives, according to Abdullah Arain of KIDS and Paul Bretscher, president of SAC.

“We can provide logistical support, but we’ll let the coalition take the lead,” said Bretscher, “we haven’t had a meeting to discuss and take collective action yet.”

“Basically, the PSF was at the centre of this, and I thought it would be better to get together,” said Siddiqui, explaining how the rough coalition of campus groups formed quickly and without political difficulty.

“We created the coalition so that we wouldn’t have fragmented work. It is a lot more efficient to gather all the money and give them to well-trusted organizations,” said Anas Nader, vice-president of KIDS.

Both the PSF and the MSA started fundraising last Tuesday. Since then the PSF has raised $4,500, and the MSA a further $15,000 “from Muslim students on campus,” according to Shuaib Ally, president of the Muslim Students Association.

“We collected at our daily prayers, when we broke the fast together, and over the website,” he said. “I’m personally amazed at the generosity of the Muslim students, but then again, they’ve always been pretty responsive to helping others in their time of need.”

One question that came up in the frenzy to help those in need was where exactly to send all this cash.

“For now, [donations] are going to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Care Canada, Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), and the North American Muslim Federation (NAMF), because these four organizations are working on the ground now,” said Nader.

Both Siddiqui and Ally, however, are still determining where their large quantity of donations will be going.

“At this point, we’ve narrowed it down to organizations [whose donations are] being matched by the Canadian government: the Red Cross, Red Crescent, Oxfam, and Care Canada,” said Siddiqui.

“We’ve been sending blankets and goods through NAMF, but the PSF is a relatively small group. People need blankets, tents, and basic medicine.

“The rainy season is coming in Pakistan, and in Kashmir, up in the mountains, there will be snow. The conditions are terrible.”

“We have the booths to collect money, some blankets, medical supplies-anything that could be donated,” Nader said as he worked the Sid Smith booth last Thursday. He noted that the coalition was working against a general tide of apathy.

“For now, we’re just trying to spread awareness, because unfortunately, there is really minimum media coverage for the disaster, compared to other disasters that happened. Really, I mean, more than 50,000 people now have died, unfortunately.”

The coalition has planned to have a vigil next Friday night at the Great Hall in Hart House. According to Siddiqui, they have asked U of T president Naylor to attend, along with the Counselor General of Pakistan.