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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 2005)
Career Center 220 Hendricks Hall • (541)346-3235 • http://uocareer.uoregon.edu UNIVERSITY OF OREGON Relief: Campus groups rally for tsunami victim support Continued from page 1 “Campus support for this is phenomenal,” Ritley said. “People are really generous. They’ll walk up and drop $20 without any thought. ” In an OSPIRG meeting Tuesday night, University pre-busi ness administration student Susan Woodard suggested a “concentrated day of tsunami relief” on Jan. 18 for OSPIRG to raise more funds to donate to Oxfam, Ritley said. “We’d like to put stations throughout campus where peo ple throughout the day can put in as much or as little as they see fit,” Ritley said. “One of the ideas is to have it be kind of a ‘skip-your-coffee’ day where the money you would nor mally spend on a latte or something, you’d actually put that money in a jar to go toward disaster relief. ” Ritley said her group still needs to contact University ad ministrators to get their “encouragement and support,” but was confident they would “recognize how crucial this is and how great the need is right now.” OSPIRG also plans to contact University Housing to see if students’ excess meal points at the end of the week could be donated to the disaster relief. Sat Pavan Khalsa is a local woman who was raised in India and is heading up a growing group of volunteers that gathered Monday evening at her south Eugene home to begin coordinating efforts to host a fundraising event. “When something like this hits, we really need to look at ourselves as human beings and put aside differences,” Khalsa said. “We just need to help our brothers and sisters and form a united group now. ” At Monday’s meeting, about 20 volunteers decided to host a benefit dinner with entertainment and a silent auc tion. The relief group, which has received e-mails from 30 to 40 interested volunteers, is researching different chari ties that will offer long-term relief to tsunami-ravaged areas by providing health care, housing and schooling support. Those at the meeting divided into three smaller groups to organize the different facets of the fundraising event. One group is finding a location for the event, a second group is researching charities and the third group is contacting people to help donate to the event. A few Indian restaurants from the Eugene area have agreed to cater the dinner. The group is talking to different artists to donate work for the silent auction as well as talking to local businesses to donate goods and services. “There will be food, entertainment, a raffle, the silent auc tion and a slide show of the disaster area to show people what their money will be helping,” Khalsa said. Leslie Brockelbank, who is volunteering with the group, said students can make the event a huge success. “The most powerful tool is word of mouth and just pass ing information along,” Brockelbank said. "We are putting this fundraiser together quickly, and every person will help. ” Brockelbank chose to be a part of the Eugene Tsunami Relief Fund because it is the first local group that she heard of, but she was attracted to the group because of the cultural base and the diversity the group offers. “There is a lot of diversity, but many people have Indian connections,” Brockelbank said. “It makes it much more specific about where the money goes. It’s neat to do this with a group that really cares about a particular place.” After a meeting Thesday night, the ASUO wants to collect funds for tsunami victims by organizing a candlelight vigil in the EMU Amphitheater, International Student Advocate Laila Taraghi said. At the vigil, set for the evening of Jan. 14, students could both show solidarity and give donations, Taraghi said. Some volunteers were compelled to get involved for more personal reasons. Volunteer Michael Carrigan, who is helping with the group organized by Khalsa, said he has traveled exten sively through the areas affected by the tsunami, which helped motivate him to get involved. “I have been to the areas that are devastated,” Carrigan said. “I want to give something back to the people who have given so much to me. ” abolsinger@ daily emerald, com jaredpaben@ daily emerald, com Wave of assistance Charity officials expect donations for tsunami victims to stream in with the biggest recipient so far being the American Red Cross. As of Tuesday its pledged donations totaled $92 million. Tsunami aid raised by some top American relief organizations In millions American Red Cross $92 Doctors Without Borders ft 20 UNICEF* | 20 Catholic Relief Services 8 15 Oxfam America if 15 World Vision USA 15 Save the Children B15 .CARE USA l H. International Rescue Committee 2 Total aid raised *u s fund by American relief organizations About $2.3 billion So far more than $200 million Sept. 11,2001 Tsunami SOURCES: American Red Cross; AP Association of Fundraising Professionals; Chronicle of Philanthropy Professor: Tsunami unlikely in Oregon coast's near future Continued from page 1 and Mineral Industries, said. “The last tsunami Oregon suffered occurred in 1700 when the populace of Oregon consisted of tribes,” Roddey said. He added that scientists have not been able to find clear records of the magnitude of damage and any death tolls as a result of the deadly wave besides village ruins, but the fragmented records they do have come from oral history passed down by those tribes and from records in Japan, where the country experienced the catastrophic tsunami hours later. Roddey said for a tsunami to occur, it has to be offshore and happen on the seafloor — there has to be a very large earthquake (at least 7 magni tude) or it can also be an underwater landslide. The most common tsunami, he said, is an under water earthquake that displaces the sea floor. Oregon’s timeline is marked by dozens of tsunamis that have been recorded in the 1,500 years scientists have been able to research, Roddey said. While there is no consistent pattern, the av erage interval between these tsunamis — which can reach the 9.0 magnitude earthquake seen in the Asian tsunami on Dec. 26 — is 400 to 600 years, with the longest interval lasting 1,000 years, Weldon said. What if a tsunami were to strike today? “The problem in Oregon is its coastal estuaries,” Weldon said, referring to towns and cities close to the ocean, such as Florence, that are without the benefit of rocky cliffs to protect them. “Florence and other towns have a risk associated with tsunamis. Properly warned, people can get away from a tsunami.” The tsunami warnings would come first with an earthquake that would cause considerable damage, leveling buildings and destroying cars and even bridges. Injured Oregonians and those who did not escape in time would find an enemy in the inaccessi bility the earthquake and tsunami would cause, iso lating townspeople from the mainland, Weldon said. “Many of the communities will be isolated, but they have to be prepared to take care of them selves and neighbors,” said Weldon. “A very min imal protection is all that’s needed until a lifeline is connected.” Both Weldon and Roddey recommend food, wa ter and medicine kits that can last up to a week as precautionary measures. Tsunamis that have affected Oregon have not always been caused by Juanda Fuca-North Ameri can plate collision. The most recent tsunami Oregon suffered came from Alaska, known as the Good Fri day Alaska Earthquake, in 1964. “The Good Friday Alaska Earthquake caused a tsunami that washed down the coast,” Weldon said. “(The tsunami) killed four people in the Oregon coast.” Tsunamis from even farther away could cause damage. Roddey said that had the Southeast Asian tsunami not been directed toward the Indi an Ocean and instead toward the Pacific, the dam age could go as far as the United States coast. In those cases, people living on the coast would have hours of preparation. “Tsunamis cross entire ocean basins,” Weldon said. “If something happened in the Philippines, we’d have 10 hours of warning. ” But the chance of a tsunami hitting Oregon any time in the near future is minimal, according to the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral In dustries, which estimates between 10 and 20 per cent probability of a tsunami hitting Oregon in the next 50 years. anthonylucero@ daily emerald, com ,021008 Hump Day $5 OFF any 16" pizza one topping or more with 2 free drinks exp 1/5/05 • not valid with any other offer valid for carryout or delivery dine Subs with Substance 6-5808 824 Charnelton Sun-Wed: 11 am-1 am Thur-Sat: 11 am - 2 am
