Unlike the 80 people who stood quietly on the Tisch Library patio Thursday night, memorializing the victims of the recent South Asian earthquake, most of the disaster's survivors do not have somewhere to go when the temperature drops.
Students organized a candlelight vigil for the estimated 55,000 people who have died since an earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck Afghanistan, Pakistan and India on Oct. 8. The earthquake - its epicenter in Pakistan-administered Kashmir - may have left another three million people homeless, according to the BBC.
Those left homeless are also left out in the cold, senior Amir Said, who led the vigil, said. "It's a mountainous, hilly terrain, and winter is starting to come," he said. "And like here in New England, it's cold."
Participants donated $2 for a candle. The proceeds will go to four charities, including Care India and the Mercy Corps, to help purchase winterized tents, blankets and sleeping bags and helicopters for evacuations, Said said.
He said the earthquake has not received enough coverage in the press. "This crisis hasn't really galvanized citizens," he said. "There is an effect that there's been one too many tragedies lately."
Ignoring the disaster, though, would be a mistake. "Events like this allow us to look on our own humanity," Said said. "They are a test to see how we connect with other humans."
The earthquake happened in a remote region, and not many people from industrialized nations were affected. With coverage of other natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina and Wilma, dominating the news cycle the past month and a half, Said said response to the earthquake has been slim.
At a United Nations donor conference Wednesday, major governments pledged $580 million in relief aid but only $111 million has been allotted for emergency food and shelters, according to Radio Free Europe.
Five students read narratives from relief workers and others recounting their experiences of the earthquake. "The smell of death hangs thick in the air, and everywhere you look, there are collapsed houses and buildings," one student read.
Another told a story of a pregnant woman whose two children perished in the earthquake. The woman was sleeping under a tree at night, without a blanket to keep her warm.
"All we could see were men, women and children waiting by the roadside for help that wasn't coming fast enough," a relief worker wrote.
A school for young women collapsed, killing 150. Many of the bodies have been recovered, but an entire class remains buried under the rubble.
Junior Usman Khan, one of the organizers, said he was "very much" pleased with the vigil. "It's a cold night, and I think we had about 80 or 90 people here," he said. "It's also more than that - it's a symbolic thing, it's about raising awareness. I know these things disappear from the news quickly."
Khan has family in Islamabad, Pakistan, but no one he knew was hurt.
The vigil - sponsored by the Muslim Student Association but organized by other students as well - was one of many held simultaneously at universities across the Northeast, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and Columbia University, as well as at Stanford University.
The vigil's organizers are organizing a sale at the campus center next Tuesday to raise more money for relief efforts. The group will sell baked goods, chudiyan (bangles), cushion covers and other goods and paint henna tattoos.
