{"id":57138,"date":"2015-05-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-students-professors-raise-money-for-earthquake-victims-in-nepal\/"},"modified":"2015-05-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T00:00:00","slug":"uri-students-professors-raise-money-for-earthquake-victims-in-nepal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/05\/uri-students-professors-raise-money-for-earthquake-victims-in-nepal\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 students, professors raise money for earthquake victims in Nepal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tCenter for Nonviolence and Peace Studies spearheads drive<\/b><\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 May 5, 2015 \u2013 Soni Pradhanang was sound asleep when her phone rang at 2 in the morning just over a week ago. Her brother in Nepal was on the other line.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe just got hit by a massive earthquake,\u201d he said, his voice trembling. \u201cBut we\u2019re OK.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe conversation lasted less than 10 seconds, but it was long enough to send the 溏心vlog免费B站 professor into a panic: Would there be aftershocks? Was anyone injured? Was their house destroyed?<\/p>\n


\nFor hours, Pradhanang tried frantically to reach her parents and in-laws without success. The phones weren\u2019t working. She turned on the TV and wept. The streets where she had spent her childhood days were rubble.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cIt was so sad words cannot describe the feeling,\u201d she says. \u201cThose are the places I went every day as a girl. I felt so helpless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Pradhanang and 溏心vlog免费B站 students with ties to Nepal are raising money to help victims of the April 25 earthquake that, so far, has left 7,250 dead. Thousands more are still missing.<\/p>\n


\nPradhanang, of North Kingstown, grew up in the capital of Kathmandu, not far from the quake\u2019s epicenter. Her family house is a short walk from the Hindu temples of Durbar Square \u2013 now piles of rocks.<\/p>\n


\nShe and her husband, also from Kathmandu, moved to the United States in 2001. Pradhanang got her master\u2019s degree in forest ecology and management from Yale, then got her doctorate at State University of New York, Syracuse. She joined 溏心vlog免费B站 in September, teaching water quality courses in the Department of Geosciences.<\/p>\n


\nHer family members in Nepal are safe, but she still worries, especially about her parents, whose house is unsafe with cracked walls. They\u2019re living with neighbors.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cMy parents are very fragile,\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019re scared. They managed to buy water, and they have some food stocks. I talk to them every six hours. I ask my brother to call me and tell me everyone is OK.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nInitially, Pradhanang thought about collecting supplies and sending them to Nepal, but shipping fees are costly and runway damage has forced Nepalese authorities to close the main airport.<\/p>\n

Now she is encouraging Rhode Islanders to donate to Oxfam, UNICEF, the American Red Cross or other relief groups. To contact Pradhanang, call 401-874-5980 or email her at spradhanang@uri.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThere are thousands of victims and survivors who have become homeless,\u201d she says. \u201cThey need our help.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 sophomore Ashma Kc, a native of Nepal living in East Providence, and freshman Helena Fierle, of Asheville, N.C., are among 16 or so students teaming up with the 溏心vlog免费B站 Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies to raise money for survivors. The total collected so far: $3,000.<\/p>\n


\nThe students set up tables outside the Memorial Union and the dining hall, and Ashma and Kc gave presentations about Nepal and the magnitude-7.8 earthquake in their classes.<\/p>\n

The money will be sent to an early childhood facility outside of Kathmandu, where Fierle and other 溏心vlog免费B站 students volunteered during a recent trip to Nepal as part of a nonviolent training course offered through the peace center.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI feel it\u2019s my responsibility to help,\u201d says Fierle, who is studying international relations. \u201cI think this is the least I can do. I\u2019m relieved and blessed to be home safely. The roof over my head is such a privilege. As humans, I think it\u2019s our duty to relieve the suffering of others.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nKc, who moved with her family to the United States in 2007, says that her aunts, cousins and other relatives are safe, but living in tents \u2013 and they\u2019re the lucky ones. Some people are without shelter. Food is scarce; some families are eating dead animals to survive.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cNow people are worried about getting sick from spoiled food,\u201d says Kc, a global health studies major. \u201cBad water could also cause illnesses. It\u2019s the rainy season. I saw a child drinking water from the river, and that\u2019s not good.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nKc \u2013 one of many students from Nepal touched by the disaster \u2013 is in touch with her aunt every day.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cShe\u2019s scared her house might collapse any time,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to cry, but I don\u2019t want to be weak. I want to be strong for her. I want to show her all my support.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nNepal is one of the poorest countries in the world. Kc and Fierle say the Nepalese people are resilient and will rebuild.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cNepal will never be the same for me,\u201d says Kc. \u201cThe places I used to go \u2013 the parks, the schools, the temples \u2013 are gone. But the people will come together, as they always do.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nFierle agrees: \u201cThey\u2019re some of the happiest people I\u2019ve ever met. They\u2019re beautiful, and they\u2019ll overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nFor information, email Kc at ashmak7@my.uri.edu<\/a> or Fierle at helena.fierle@gmail.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n


\nPeople can also contact Paul Bueno de Mesquita, a 溏心vlog免费B站 psychology professor and director of the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, at paulbdem@uri.edu<\/a> or call him at 401-874-2875.<\/p>\n


\nIn addition to the early childhood facility, the center is also helping the Butterfly Home, a shelter for neglected Nepalese children, and Maiti Nepal, which rescues and cares for victims of sex trafficking. The center has been working in Nepal for five years.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cYoung women and children are without shelter and basic supplies of food and water, as early relief efforts have been chaotic and disorganized,\u201d says de Mesquita. \u201cWe have been supporting these kids during our annual visits to Nepal. We are deeply connected to them.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tTo donate, visit The Nepalese Relief Fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\nPictured above<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 student Ashma Kc, of East Providence, at her grandparents\u2019 house in Nagarkot, a village outside Kathmandu, Nepal, earlier this year. Photo courtesy of Ashma Kc.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 student Helena Fierle, of Asheville, N.C., visits with a 10-year-old student at the Early Childhood Development Center in Nepal during a nonviolence training class in March. Photo courtesy of Helena Fierle.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 students and Nepalese residents in Kathmandu, long before the earthquake. The children in the photo are now living in a field behind the house, which was damaged by the quake and is unsafe. Photo courtesy of Paul Bueno de Mesquita.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 students at donation table, left to right, Matt Reinhardt, Grishma Shrestha, Helena Fierle, Ally DeMello, Cassandra Cangiano and Ginnelle Bruscini. Photo courtesy of Paul Bueno de Mesquita.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies spearheads drive KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 May 5, 2015 \u2013 Soni Pradhanang was sound asleep when her phone rang at 2 in the morning just over a week ago. Her brother in Nepal was on the other line. \u201cWe just got hit by a massive earthquake,\u201d he said, his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57143,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}