For students whose families and friends felt the 4:17 AM local time February 6, 2023 magnitude 7.8 earthquake–which as of March 12 had killed 47,000 people in southern Turkey and over 6,000 in northern Syria, going home meant much more than the start of summer. While some reunited with their family and returned to a supportive local response, others near to the epicenter lost their jobs, homes, and loved ones. The Turkey-Syria earthquake continued to rattle the region with thousands of tremulous aftershocks, and roads were heavily disrupted–exacerbating existing resource scarcity and refugee instability in the region already induced by the ongoing war in neighboring Syria. I worried for my family in Turkey and the toll that rebuilding not only structures, but stability in their lives, might take. I also wondered how I could help from my station as a Barnard College student.

On February 8, the Columbia Spectator published an Op-Ed by the Columbia Turkish Students Association. This article uplifted cross-institutional examples of student organizing, pointing to the Turkish Student Associations at Harvard, UC Berkeley, Northwestern, Tufts, among other schools that made use of digital fundraising platforms. By contrast, the Columbia Turkish Students (CTS) Association detailed multiple levels of challenges, including Columbia’s Student Governing Board denying CTS requests to host fundraising via Venmo, citing that it is against school policy for student organizations to fundraise on third-party apps including Venmo. Tabling times are limited to after normal working hours, and requests for materials must be approved over multiple business days.

The CTS described how they had to start their own social media campaigns to organize relief and commemoration:

“We organized a vigil alongside Syrian students to commemorate those whom we lost. We started sharing donation links to encourage students to support the efforts of local government organizations, and to the Venmo accounts of fellow Turkish student groups across the United States who are able to spearhead their own fundraising campaigns.”

Despite these administrative frustrations, CU Turath–Columbia and Barnard’s Arab students association–repurposed the Low Library room they had previously reserved for their Alf Leila wa Leila gala event into a fundraiser for relief aid.

On February 10, three days after the earthquake, Barnard College posted the following on Twitter (now X):

Barnard’s official response in the aftermath of the earthquake was to-the-point, and actionable, with the link leading to a website page full of resources anyone could share and contribute to. The page was also updated to include Tow Associate Professor for Distinguished Scholars in the Department of Political Science Ayten Gundogdu’s recommendations, commented that same day:

However, this timing limited the action that students wanting to help–but unable to donate digitally or monetarily–could take. Clothing drives and opportunities to donate time and volunteering work, for instance, were relatively overlooked. By the time the article was published, there were–at maximum–three days left before the Columbia Turkish Students Association and the Barnard Community Engagement and Inclusion office hosted three days of care item donation collection hours in Barnard’s Altschul Atrium, and three days before Barnard Turkish Students Association affiliates hosted their collection in Barnard and Diana Halls. Columbia News’ response was more comprehensive, encouraging community resilience–but came after many of the relief donation events had ended. Smaller community responses were more brief and echoed sentiments already made.

Furthermore, as Barnard College junior and Bold Print editor Hannah Ramsey put it in conversation, “people are less likely to care about a cause or be willing to take action towards helping solve a problem if they do not believe their actions will have any power. This feeling of powerlessness, learned helplessness, and subsequent dismissal of one’s obligation to help during times of emergency is only enhanced through digital fundraisers.” 

However well-intentioned and timely, the integral lack of proximity, interdependency, and follow-up in social media aid efforts undermine the community’s investment and sense of accountability in responding to the emergency. What can we as members of Columbia University’s approximately 34.5% international student community do to ensure an effective response to global emergencies?

Students in particular may recall Barnard’s Give and Go Green program: one exemplary initiative that collects, sorts, and resells or donates students’ unwanted dorm items before end-of-year move-out. Beyond this, the student group of volunteers led by Sandra Goldmark, Director of Campus Sustainability and Climate Action, manages donation drives–such as the Clothing Donation Drive that was hosted from March 27 to April 17, 2023 by the Office of Sustainability at Barnard in partnership with SGA and the student-run Instagram spotlighting “outfits at barnard,” @barnardfits.

When a particularly devastating natural disaster or war wages on, it is important for a resource-rich institution like Columbia University to organize relief and aid that is not only quick to respond and far-reaching, but accessible and flexible for all to participate in and especially sensitive to those personally impacted.

While I was born and raised in the US, my stepfather immigrated here from Turkey, where he had lived through the devastating 1999 Izmit earthquake. Though our family did not live near the worst by the epicenter, the memory of surviving two massive earthquakes lingers. The Turkey-Syria earthquake continued to rattle the region with thousands of tremulous aftershocks, and roads were heavily disrupted–exacerbating existing resource scarcity and refugee instability in the region already induced by the ongoing war in neighboring Syria.

My stepfather described the afterschool arts programs that reinvigorated the spirit of the community he lived in as a student. He emphasized the life-saving hope creative expression and community gatherings instilled in family and friends in the Izmit aftermath, and that we can look to what has been done in the past for evidence of what does aid in recovering from disasters. The February 21, 2001 issue of the Barnard Bulletin reported on the fundraiser event the Club Zamana hosted, emphasizing the success of the auction and in-person donations to aid in rebuilding after the Gujarat earthquake of January 26, 2001.

So in sum, how can we respond more effectively as a community to emergencies, both local and global?

1. Students can utilize prominent communication channels. The Columbia Bulletin for example launched their all-in-one app for student use to simplify the communication between students, participants, and the organizers of campus events, student groups, and opportunities. Adding an announcement system for student aid and relief efforts can make them more possible and accessible.
2. Professors can make an announcement proactively, and when applicable center a responsive class activity around emergency preparedness, aid, and recovery.
3. Administrators can continue reaching out to families based on proximity and specify how community members can spread help and share hope.
4. SGB and student organizations can work together to update special policies to mobilize students and the community in the event of a natural disaster or emergency. One idea is to streamline the processes of emergency response action such as fundraising and help support special efforts to send necessary supplies or volunteers, such as campus-wide efforts to aid in disaster relief.
5. Mental and physical health providers can offer special services and support during the time of response and recovery.
6. Schools can partner with Columbia Global Centers (there is one in Istanbul) to coordinate flexible and custom alternatives for students involved in emergency response and recovery work.
7. Local NGOs and governmental leaders can recruit part-time volunteers to work in emergency response efforts for credit in agreement with schools.
8. Everyone can use the federal Federal Emergency Management Agency’s www.Ready.gov to learn more about how to be prepared for emergencies.

Most recently, Columbia Global Centers Istanbul published an article online recapitulating the series they hosted to examine relief and aid strategies and impacts after the Turkey-Syria earthquake. The hope is that programs and initiatives like this will take precedence in more comprehensive transnational emergency response situations. But implementing these learnings is up to us as members of the community.

For a community as diverse as we are, it comes as a shock on top of the disruption of a natural disaster that our emergency response is so insular. University faculty, staff, and administration need to be able to check in with and call upon those personally impacted by the disaster and those able should have a direct line of communication to orchestrate relief efforts and informative support channels. We need to be ready to rely on each other so representing a region in crisis is not an exclusive burden, rather that it is a collective responsibility. Working together to respond comprehensively to transnational emergencies is especially vital if Columbia is to model a truly “global” university. 

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We want to hear from you–how can the University community support or better understand you and your family through an emergency? 

 Have you and/or your family been impacted by the recent tropical storm Idalia, Maui wildfires, or Morocco earthquake? Is there a disaster in your hometown you want to see covered?

Share your perspective by emailing us at [email protected] or commenting on our website below.