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GREENSBURG, PA- In response to the January earthquake that killed more than 20,000 people in India, the International Student Organization at ��������Ƶ College will hold two information sessions on campus on Thursday, February 15th to raise funds for the Catholic Relief Services. The sessions will be held in the Second Maura Solarium from 11:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m. and in Lowe Dining Hall from 10:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m. and are open to the public. “When a part of humanity faces such a catastrophe, the catastrophe rises from being a concern of any particular community or country, and becomes a loss which humanity suffers as a whole,” said spokesperson for ISO Abhijnan Rej. Rej is freshman mathematics and computer science major from India. The earthquake injured no one in his family. “It has been said that in a situation like this, the only fortunate people are those who are dead. The dead escape the aftermath, which cripples the survivors, in more ways than one. For a country like India, forever struggling to fight poverty and underdevelopment, a natural calamity like this has the potential to drag it one step back. This, truly, is a time of test for the survivors. The earthquake, measuring 7.9 in the Richter scale, had its epicenter in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. According to the first estimates, the earthquake caused a net damage of over $5.5 billion, besides a daily production loss of about $111 million. The reported death toll of 20,000 is a moderate estimate, with the upper bound of casualties being put at 100,000. “For us, the fortunate ones who have been physically unaffected by this calamity, it is a time of test too. Time to test our pronunciations on helping those in need, time to test our commitments to fellow human beings and time to test our willingness to stretch our means to help others,” Rej said. The International Student Organization asks that the community assist them in their efforts to help the survivors of this terrible disaster. Please consider giving of your time or resources to the Catholic Relief Fund either directly or through the International Student Organization at ��������Ƶ College. For more information or to make a donation, please contact Abhijnan Rej at 724-838-2444 or Joan Beidler, Intercultural Student Services Coordinator, at 724-834-5158 or beidler@setonhill.edu.