By JESSICA PEREGOY
jep024@latech.edu
The Pakistani earthquake has Tech students emptying their
pockets to help those affected all the way across the world. Members of the
International Students Organization banded together to raise money for those in
need in Pakistan after the earthquake shook the country Oct. 9.
“I feel really good about what we’re doing,” Zamir Hussain, a junior chemical
engineering major, said. “We don’t feel like we have an obligation to do this.
We just have sympathy for people from our country and want to help.”
The earthquake wreaked havoc on Pakistan destroying
nearly 95 percent of all the houses and creating a death toll sitting at 53,000
people that is steadily rising.
Several members from the ISO and Pakistan natives have
set up booths in front of the Student Center and Prescott Memorial Library
asking for donations to help the earthquake victims.
“We started on [October 17] and have gotten about $150 a
day,” Sobia Awan, a senior
electrical engineering major, said. “We want to send at least $1,000 to the
President’s Relief Fund Account to directly help the people from [Pakistan].”
The volunteers said students and faculty have been
responsive.
“Students have been really helpful,” Hussain
said. “Even if they don’t have cash, they have written checks and the faculty
members are always stopping by.”
The ISO students donate any time they have available
between classes to help raise money for the Pakistan victims, Awan said.
“We really need more people to help sit at the booths,” Awan said. “I’m here all day between my classes, but we
could probably get a lot more if there were more people available to work.”
Heather Bowden, a sophomore elementary education major,
said after the hurricanes that affected Louisiana, students have more compassion
for those affected by the Pakistani earthquake.
“It affects everyone no matter what,” Bowden said. “It
always seemed like none of these disasters hit close to home, and now it’s all
happening at once.”
For some students, the impact hits a little closer.
Both Awan and Hussain are from Pakistan and feel compelled to help people
from their home, Hussain said.
“There are seven students from Pakistan,” Awan said. “We don’t have any immediate family there, but
it’s where we came from. We want to help.”