Nearly a month after massive earthquakes hit Turkey, killing nearly 47,000, students at the University have continued to campaign to raise funds to aid survivors and awareness. Many affected people have been left without shelter, food or water after being forced to flee their destroyed homes. Student organizations — including the Turkish Student Association, Arab Student Association, Muslim Student Association and Muslims United — have been working on fundraising efforts and organizing vigils.
Ezgi Stump, second-year College student and Turkish Student Association head of outreach, said that while it is important to acknowledge the limitations of relief efforts in reaching impacted people, she hopes that their efforts can provide relief for at least some survivors.
“What I do hope to see from our efforts is just a few extra people having access to a few extra resources,” Stump said. “People need places to live, they need winter clothes, they need working plumbing systems.”
The TSA has been collecting funds for relief efforts through Venmo and the Bridge to Turkiye Fund — a nonprofit dedicated to community-based development in Turkey. TSA raised $3,250 through Venmo and donated the amount to relief efforts through the American Turkish Association in Washington D.C., the amount will be matched. TSA also raised $2,970 through BTF, making their total before matching $6,220.
According to the TSA Instagram, one five-dollar donation can finance either 13 loaves of bread, seven pairs of socks or 2 blankets, providing much-needed necessities to survivors. TSA also hosted a bake sale fundraiser Feb. 15 to raise funds for the relief effort.
Sarah Youssef, a fourth-year College student and ASO outreach chair, and third-year College student Shahmeer Mirza — an executive in Muslims United — have been working together to build a coalition of supporters and other student organizations at the University designated to raising awareness and funds for aid efforts in Syria and Turkey. Youssef and Mirza have worked with TSA to arrange a vigil for those who died in the earthquake. The vigil will take place Wednesday evening at 6:30 and will be held on the South Lawn. The vigil is organized by TSA, MU, ASO, and the Syrian Cultural Club.
“[The goal of coalition building is] to get all of the organizations that are focused ethnically on that region together to start talking about it, start raising awareness about it and as a byproduct of that, also bring awareness to the Syrian conflict that has been going on for so long and has uprooted the lives of so many,” Mirza said.
The first 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in southern Turkey near Gaziantep and was followed by a second quake north of the first. The United Nations expects the death toll to reach 50,000. Two more earthquakes hit Hatay — a province in Southern Turkey — on Feb. 20, causing an additional 6 deaths as of Tuesday.
The Arab Student Organization is also promoting donation efforts on social media to aid Syria, which has been impacted by the earthquake in addition to years of civil war. In government-controlled Syria, sanctions against President Assad’s government have made it difficult for international aid to arrive.
“Some aid was getting delivered to only those who are against the president, and some only to those who are with the president,” Youssef said. “The [people] with the regime, the ones against the regime, they are still Syrian people, innocent souls and they did not get the help when they needed it.”
The Muslim Student Association is working to raise money for relief efforts in both Turkey and Syria. According to the MSA Instagram, the organization is collecting funds and will donate half of the proceeds to Turkish charity Ahbap and the other half to the Syrian White Helmets.
Muaaz Luqman, fourth-year McIntire student and MSA president, said that MSA aims to stay up-to-date with current events and felt it was essential to do whatever possible to help due to the severity of the earthquake.
“Whenever anything happens in the Muslim community, internationally or even domestically, it's always something that comes to our attention, especially any type of tragedy,” Luqman said.
MSA has currently raised approximately $1,200 dollars for relief efforts and has partnered with Student Council, which has also contributed funds to relief efforts.
Some students working to raise money have expressed disappointment in the University’s response to the natural disaster. Yusuf Sagun, Turkish Student Association president and first-year College student, said that he would have liked to see a University-wide email explaining the current situation and raising awareness of the fundraising efforts.
“I'm hoping for a better response from the University, even if the University could just spread the word that would help a lot because it's a big disaster,” Sagun said.
Stump also stated that she felt unsatisfied with the University’s response to the tragedy. She noted that one student who reached out to University administration was redirected to an article the student had been featured in. The University published a letter offering “heartfelt support” to those affected, and directed students to mental health resources.
“I think we really could have used something much more substantial from the administration and I think they really let us down in this situation. There were no resources extended to students [or faculty] in terms of actually donating,” Stump said.
For many students, the devastation caused by the earthquake has caused feelings of deep sadness and a desire to help in any way possible.
“It's hard to see it and the pain also is I guess multiplied when you see that the nation that we live in in the western area, there is not a sense of emergency of this calamity,” Mirza said
The University students working diligently to raise funds all expressed hope that their efforts — though limited — can have a positive impact on some of the survivors of these devastating earthquakes.
“I wish I can do even more, I wish I can travel now and go help get people out of the rubble but this is the most I can do… and hopefully that will have an impact,” Youssef said.
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