News and Information

Washington State University students from Samoa report their families are safe from the devastation caused by the recent tsunami that ravished their homeland. But they want to help those who are less fortunate.

A Sept. 30 underwater earthquake with a magnitude of 8.3 sent waves ashore killing an estimated 176 people in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga.

Records from WSU’s Office of Institutional Research indicate just two students from these islands are currently enrolled on the Pullman campus, but Kaelynn Lemke, vice president of WSU’s Pacific Islander Club says many club members have family roots there and some WSU alumni living there have been affected.

In an effort to assist those families that have been displaced or otherwise impacted by the tsunami, members of WSU’s Pacific Islander Club have organized a donation drive.

PIC members are staffing donation boxes in the Southside Dining Center and two locations in the Compton Union Building (CUB)— the corridor just off the food court area on the main floor and on the fourth floor inside the Asian American and Pacific Islander Student Center. Clothing, toiletries, and money will be accepted at these locations during the remainder of the month.

“I think the most important thing to remember is these are people just like us who have had everything they’ve spent their lives working for destroyed,” said Lemke. “If everyone at WSU went through their closet and picked out two articles of clothing they haven’t worn in the last six months, we could give an outfit to most of the people in Samoa who are living without adequate clothing right now.”