Publication Date: Friday, November 04, 2005
Quake relief: Palo Altans far from tapped out
Quake relief: Palo Altans far from tapped out
(November 04, 2005) Community rallies support for earthquake victims in South Asia
by Alexandria Rocha
In the wake of last year's devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia, the Palo Alto educational community rallied to raise funds for disaster relief. The same happened on a much larger scale when Hurricane Katrina hit a few months ago, and local efforts continue on behalf of those victims.
Four weeks ago, a disastrous earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter Scale hit south Asia. For a third time, the local community snapped into action.
"It really proved that the whole idea that this community was tapped out was just wrong," said Julie Greicius, the mother of an Addison Elementary School second-grader and organizer of one of the relief efforts. "We're far from tapped out."
Efforts to raise awareness and provide relief quickly cropped up. An Adopt-a-Tent/Save-a-Life drive at Addison rapidly spread to the district's other sites. On the Stanford University campus, a candlelight vigil for earthquake victims will also be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Old Union Courtyard, 520 Lasuen Mall, near the bookstore. It will be the local component to vigils occurring in communities across the country.
The Palo Alto school district's PTA council has also sponsored a separate clothing and outdoor gear drive for victims.
Melissa Baton Caswell, president of the PTA council, said the drive runs this week across the Palo Alto Unified School District. Donations of clothing, outdoor gear and cash can be brought to the school sites. Clothing items will be delivered, Caswell said, to the Hidaya Foundation's collection center in Milpitas. From there, the clothes will be shipped to the devastated areas.
Monetary donations will be used to purchase additional clothing and gear in China, where it can be bought for a fifth of what the cost is here, she said.
This week, the earthquake's death toll rose above 73,000 victims, with almost just as many injured and about 3 million people left homeless.
Many of the victims have been forced to live in tents in the face of a fast-approaching Himalayan winter, and so far 122,000 tents have been distributed. According to SAQuake.org, an alliance of professional and nonprofit organizations working jointly on relief efforts, about 400,000 tents are still needed.
The local Adopt-a-Tent/Save-a-Life drive is part of a national effort by the CARE nonprofit, which works to fight global poverty. The tents hold 50 to 60 people and are purchased in China for $100 each. So far, the Addison community has raised about $2,200 -- enough for 22 tents -- and other sites also continue to raise funds.
Much of the current fundraising efforts can be traced to Palo Alto mother Fariha Hilaly, who has relatives with friends who lived in the Pakistan capital of Islamabad. Those friends were left homeless from the earthquake, which one U.N. official said "defies our darkest imagination."
"I can understand people feeling fatigued by what seems like a never ending stream of natural disasters," wrote Hilaly in an e-mail she sent to members of the Palo Alto Menlo Park parents' club -- as well as other parents of Addison Elementary School students -- shortly after the earthquake.
"But that shouldn't blind us to the plight of these victims. They were desperately poor to begin with and need your help now more than ever," her note continued.
Hilaly's message was originally meant to raise awareness. It ended up inspiring much more.
"I was shocked when I started sending e-mails out to people and they started e-mailing me back thanking me for giving them a way to help," she said earlier this week. "It's really an amazing community show of generosity and spirit. We don't want to create any pressure; we understand this has been an emotional year."
The United States and other countries have been criticized for not responding as quickly to the earthquake as the other recent disasters. About 80 percent of the necessary aid was pledged 10 days after the tsunami, but only 30 percent has been raised two weeks after the earthquake, Greicius said. Hilaly added that about $86 million has been raised and $312 million is needed by the U.N. alone.
"Perhaps some people feel they can't really make a difference, that there's simply too much suffering, or maybe they feel it's not their responsibility," Greicius said. "I just think we can, and it is. I think these are times when we need to believe in the depth of character of our community, and simply ask."
For more information on how to help, visit www.saquake.com or www.opensiliconvalley.com.
Staff Writer Alexandria Rocha can be reached at arocha@paweekly.com.
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