Although the tsunami struck Southeast Asia weeks ago, waves of grief still wash across Syracuse University.

In an effort to memorialize and alleviate the suffering, the Slutzker Center for International Services and multiple graduate students will hold a vigil this Friday outside Hendricks Chapel in remembrance of the victims of the catastrophe that hit Southeast Asia on Dec. 26, 2004.

‘We felt that there was a need for the community to express grief, as well as express solidarity, at this moment,’ said Anuradha Mundkur, an international student from India and a graduate student in the School of Information Studies. ‘We have so many international students and a large number of them coming from that region, and we felt there was really a need for us to tell them that we do care.’

The vigil will include speeches by Chancellor Nancy Cantor, students from the affected regions, and representatives from various religions, said Cavinda Caldera, an international student from Sri Lanka and a graduate student in the School of Information Studies.

The vigil will also offer community members the opportunity to give donations to the American Red Cross through the Syracuse University Tsunami Disaster Relief Fund. $50,848 has been donated to the SU Tsunami Disaster Relief Fund so far, according to the SU News Service.

Organizers hope the vigil will act as a call to action for Syracuse community members to donate their time, money and effort towards relief for the tsunami, said Patricia Burak, director of the international students office.

Although the tsunami did not kill any SU students, numerous international students felt deeply affected by the disaster, Burak said.

Caldera, one of the many SU students shocked by the tsunami, said she could not believe Sri Lanka had been devastated by a tsunami.

‘I thought they had the wrong country because Sri Lanka is not a very well-known country,’ Caldera said.

Rahda Ganesan, an employee at the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs at Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs from India, had difficulty accepting the magnitude of the tsunami.

‘The death toll kept increasing,’ Ganesan said. ‘I knew the impact that (a tsunami) can have. In my mind I kept on hoping and praying that the first numbers that I saw were it.’

The death toll’s high percentage of children was most shocking for Mundkur.

‘In some places people have lost an entire generation of kids,’ Mundkur said. ‘Some of the first images that come to mind, given that I visit Chennai, (one of the most affected cities in India) very often, is that on Sunday you will find children playing cricket on the beach.’

The event’s organizers hope the vigil will begin to relieve the painful effects the tsunami has had on the global community.

‘The disaster was just one day, but this is going to take a very, very, very long time to get over,’ Mundkur said.

Published on January 18, 2005 at 12:00 pm