Boston University students have been too slow in responding to an 8.8 magnitude earthquake that devastated Chile, said Nicole Rojas, a Chilean student.
Rojas, who created the Boston Students United for Chile Facebook group, said that it has been difficult to get momentum going to fundraise for Chile.
“Everyone is pretty exhausted from the whole Haiti thing so Chile is one of the last things on their mind,” she said.
The relief effort has been “almost nonexistent” said Rojas on Wednesday.
However, in the last two days a fund raising event featuring the co-ed acapella group, The Allegrettos, has been organized.
Explosión Latina, an annual show hosted by Alianza Latina, also plans to donate half of the proceeds to Habitat for Humanity for Chile.
The earthquake, which hit the cities of Concepcion and Santiago the hardest, killed 720 people and displaced 1.5 million.
Although the magnitude was greater than the earthquake that rocked Haiti, there was less devastation because the buildings were better built to sustain earthquakes.
“It’s frustrating because I understand that Chile is nowhere near as destructed as Haiti but we are still getting aftershocks and we are still being affected,” Rojas said. We are being left to fend on our own.”
Rojas was born in Chile but raised in Long Island, New York. Most of her extended family who still live in Chile are okay because they live north of the capital, she said.
BU is also “seriously slacking” compared to other Boston schools, she said.
Harvard and MIT had joined forces and created a website where students can donate money that goes directly to Chile non-governmental organizations, she said.
The United States has been slow in helping Chile as well, said Rojas.
“They think that the former President of Chile originally said that she did not want help, but really she did not know what kind of help she wanted. A lot of counties and the U.S. took it as Chile did not want help at all.”
Great article! Any attention we can give to this relief effort is important.