Students help aid Taiwan
By Don Weberg
Daily Forty-Niner
Cal State Long Beach students are joining
forces with the U.S. government to rush medical supplies and monetary assistance
to earthquake-torn Taiwan.
The CSULB Taiwanese Student Association
is spearheading relief efforts on campus, and members are desperately seeking
more student volunteers to help the cause.
"We need to get as many people as possible
organized [to help the efforts]," said Pason Wang, a graduate student in
Asian-American studies.
The association currently has 20 volunteers,
said Wang, also a member of the Taiwanese-American Citizens League, a political
group helping Asian-Americans keep in touch with events happening in their
native country. TSA members have contacted the American Red Cross and Operation
USA to help the Taiwanese people, he said.
Although neighboring countries have been
sending Taiwan monetary aid, some TSA members believe itís not enough.
"It [the aid] was more like an offering
than anything else," said TSA member Andy Wu, also a graduate student
in Asian-American studies.
Wu said that even though the media are
focused mainly on Taipei, most of the damage, and the epicenter, was in
Nantou.
"The majority of my family is in Taipei,
and they are OK," Wu said. "I think that Californians are so blasé
about earthquakes, the awareness needs to be brought up."
Wu said earthquake awareness and preparedness
may be a new goal for the TSA this semester.
"Hopefully this wakes us up and gets us
ready," Wu said. "Maybe this was a warning sign for us."
To become a TSA student volunteer, one
may call (626) 571 - 7197. |
![[news]](http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/Icon/news.gif){kind=icon}
![[opinion]](http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/Icon/opinion.gif){kind=icon}
![[sports]](http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/Icon/sports.gif){kind=icon}