Uni acts to aid tsunami relief effort
[ UniNews Vol. 14, No. 1
7 - 21 February 2005 ] By Katherine Smith and Christina Buckridge
The University community has responded strongly and on many levels to the aftermath of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that hit several countries in Asia on Boxing Day.
Institutionally, the University of Melbourne stepped in to offer immediate cash support and also has a strategy in place to support long-term relief to affected countries in the region.
The Universitys cash donation of $250,000 for immediate relief in affected areas has been distributed to the Red Cross ($100,000), UNICEF ($50,000), Oxfam ($50,000) and CARE Australia ($50,000).
The Universitys Planning and Budget Committee has set up another fund of $250,000 to be used over three years in support of tsunami relief projects. This fund could be used, for example, to enable expert staff to travel to affected areas.
Across the University many staff and students have mobilised. They are working as emergency professionals and volunteers answering phones for aid agencies in Melbourne and working in refugee camps in-country. Staff are also salary sacrificing future donations to tsunami relief through regular salary deductions.
UniNews will provide continuing reports about University-wide and individual efforts to help out in tsunami-affected areas over coming editions.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Peter McPhee, is heading the Universitys Tsunami Taskforce which is considering how the University might best contribute to the longer-term rebuilding phase in the affected countries.
The Taskforce brings together expert and interested parties from across the University and from Melbourne University Private, which is experienced in delivering aid-sponsored programs in the region, members of the Melbourne University Overseas Students Services (MUOSS) and other undergraduate and postgraduate student representatives.
The first meeting of the Taskforce heard Sri Lankan student Manjuni Fernando, who was in an area of Sri Lanka affected by the tsunami, give a first-hand account of her experience.
The Taskforce is also a coordination point for staff and student organised events to support the tsunami appeal.
Students and staff will be able to take part in a multi-faith commemoration service, organised by the Taskforce, which will take place on Wednesday 9 March (second Wednesday of Semester One) from 1.00-2.00pm on the South Lawn of the Parkville campus.
In an email to all staff last week the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Glyn Davis, announced that the University will provide $50,000 to Thailands Population Community Development Association (PDA) to assist primary and secondary school children in Krabi and Phang Nga provinces by providing school lunches, reestablishing school lunch farms, and providing other educational-support packages in tsunami-affected villages in southern Thailand. The University already works with PDA, headed by alumnus Dr Mechai Viravaidya, in school lunch and scholarship programs in northern Thailand.
Asialink has reallocated $25,000 to support school education programs in Indonesia. Other initiatives include a public forum at the Melbourne Town Hall on Friday 18 February to examine the long-term effects of the tsunami and likely ramifications for Australias relationship with Indonesia with all proceeds going directly to reconstruction efforts through the Indonesian Red Cross and the National Coordinating Board for Disaster Relief and an evening of Bollywood Music and Dance at the Sidney Myer Asia Centre on Saturday 26 February to raise money for victims in South Asia.
Professor Graham Brown reported to the Tsunami Taskforce that the Faculty of Medicine has developed a broad database of volunteers available to provide assistance to the relief operation and respond to technical questions concerning infectious diseases and public health.
An assessment of the psychological needs of traumatised victims in Aceh has been carried out by Professor Harry Minas of the Centre for International Mental Health, who says that all the recommendations made by his group have been incorporated into the Indonesian Ministry of Healths mental health plan of action for the region.
Professor Peter Deutschmann of the Australian International Health Institute has been assessing priorities for current and emerging health care needs in India. Forensic dentistry expert, Professor John Clement, has major responsibilities in forensic identification in Thailand.
Dr Vin Massaro, Melbourne University Private, says the private university is supporting various large projects on reconstruction of major infrastructure and child protection in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
Staff in the Faculty of Engineering have established various discussion forums for engineers and other experts to consider practical ways in which assistance can best be delivered.
Dr John Langford of the Centre for Water Research has been advising on restoration of clean water supplies in Sri Lanka.
Professor Michael Leigh, Deputy Director of the Melbourne Institute of Asian Languages and Societies, is currently involved in monitoring humanitarian assistance and political issues in Indonesia for AUSAID. He informed members of the lack of resources in the schools in Aceh, which are in dire need of contemporary teaching materials and extensive training programs for teachers.
Professor McPhee says that taskforce members have discussed the importance of developing teacher training programs as many teachers were killed in the tsunami-affected regions.
The Medical Students Society plans to address specific needs for textbooks.
Final-year medical student Claire Stewart is helping in Sri Lanka through the aid group IMPAKT. In an email home, she wrote: The destruction of life and property here is literally incomprehensible. When I arrived in Sri Lanka, I set out to find a family I met here 12 months ago
their village no longer exists. The only remnant of their home is a slab of concrete that used to be their floor.
Every day, Claire jumps into a truck with two others to assess and help five or six camps. They still dont have enough food, they have minimal or no medical aid, and they have absolutely nothing to do all day. We make a list of exactly what is needed, starting with the most urgent, then drive to the local markets (which have also lost all of their business), buy what we can with our limited funds, and take it back to the camp the same day! This is the only way that these villages are getting any assistance at all, and our resources are rapidly dwindling.
Claire says that $5 can be changed into 350 rupees, which buys either 10 bandages, two cooking pots, four pairs of thongs, a bed sheet, two boxes of infant formula or five kilos of vegetables, and the purchases are then taken to where they are needed that day. Details about the work of IMPAKT are at http://www.impaktaid.com
University of Melbourne staff can donate to major aid agencies through salary packaging of regular donations. A Salary Packaging Tsunami Appeal form can be found at: http://www.hr.unimelb.edu.au/forms/
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