UCLA organizations send relief to hurricane survivors

Published: Thursday, December 10, 1998

Thursday, December 10, 1998

NICARAGUA: Student groups collaborate to initiate food, clothing drives, medical aid for disaster victims

By Jaime Wilson-Chiru

Daily Bruin Contributor

Although Hurricane Mitch left tens of thousands of people in Nicaragua and Honduras homeless, many have rushed to donate food, clothing and medical supplies to help those in need of assistance.

At UCLA, professors, members of cultural clubs and other UCLA affiliates have campaigned to collect supplies to send to Nicaragua and Honduras, the two Central American countries hit hardest by Hurricane Mitch.

As part of this effort, UCLA organizations such as the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), the Latin American Student Association (LASA), and Mujeres Unidas have raised funds and collected goods from several collection boxes throughout campus.

"Initially, our campaign was centered around a food drive," said Henry Perez, MEChA's chairperson.

"There have been a lot of donations of clothing and medical supplies as well," Perez said, adding that these supplies are then sent to the most devastated areas of Central America.

Since Hurricane Mitch struck in early November, MEChA has actively supported relief efforts in Nicaragua and Honduras. Their goal is to aid hurricane victims as well as raise awareness of the situation here on campus.

"The Community and Labor Relations Committee has been initiating and carrying on the task of our food drive," Perez said. This group is responsible for making sure that the community is aware of situations such as Hurricane Mitch.

"The people at the Community Programs Office are coordinating (where the food is sent)," said Li'i Furumoto, coordinator of MEChA's Community and Labor Relations Committee. Working in conjunction with the Community Programs Office (CPO) and ASUCLA, MEChA has been able to inform many about their cause.

Currently, MEChA is working with ASUCLA to make it easier for students to make donations to hurricane victims. For example, students can give cans of food to the management office next to the X-Cape arcade in Ackerman Union in exchange for free video games.

LASA has a collection box located in their office, and Mujeres Unidas has been working with outside organizations, such as El Rescate, to help the victims.

"It's basically a lot of individuals that are doing a lot of things," said LASA President Yesenia Alvarez.

Another organization, Witness for Peace, maintains an international team in Central America and was eager to help the hurricane victims by sending medical assistance.

"We sent down a medical delegation to Honduras," said Emily Firman, an outreach intern for Witness for Peace.

The November delegation was comprised of doctors, emergency medical technicians, physician assistants and wilderness medics. Three medical school students from UCLA and two from UC Irvine went down to Honduras as part of the expedition.

"I felt obliged to go help," said Giancarlo DiMassa, a second-year UCLA medical student who participated. "Mostly we tried to go to areas outside of Tegucigalpa, the capital city. (The hurricane) destroyed a lot of infrastructure."

For one week, the delegation toured the towns and villages of Honduras to help people that needed medical assistance.

"We took four by fours out and tried to go to communities that hadn't been served yet," DiMassa said.

The hurricane destroyed 75 percent of the infrastructure in Honduras, and many lack access to medical care.

Honduras' largest hospital has been crowded with people, and the sanitary conditions have been so poor that doctors have cancelled all but the most urgent surgeries.

"We saw a lot of acute need that was caused by the hurricane," DiMassa said.

He added the destruction caused by Mitch made it more difficult to treat diseases.

"I was surprised by how badly (these diseases) were exacerbated by the hurricane," he said.

Witness for Peace is planning to send a second delegation to Honduras in January.

After forming just south of Jamaica on Oct. 22, Hurricane Mitch erupted into a category five storm with sustained winds blowing at 155 mph and gusts estimated at more than 200 mph.

Mitch, the third deadliest storm on record, stalled over Nicaragua and Honduras, causing floods, mudslides and various other problems within these countries.

Today, the death toll is estimated at more than 9,000 people, and the cost of rebuilding is an estimated $4 billion.

"Because of the immense flooding of the area, a lot of land mines are surfacing," Perez said.

As far as getting people to participate in the relief effort, "the response has been great," Perez said.

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