Holy Cross to Host Tsunami Symposium

WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross will host a scholarly panel titled "Tsunami Symposium: Making Sense of the Asian Devastation" on Jan. 27, along with other events concerning the tsunami that devastated parts of Asia and east Africa.

The scholarly panel will be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at Mary Chapel in St. Joseph Memorial Chapel, and will feature presentations by experts in the region. Following the symposium, there will be a 45-minute interfaith prayer service in Mary Chapel. At 8 p.m. an All-Bach recital dedicated to the victims of the earthquake and the tsunami titled "The Partitas of J.S. Bach" at the Brooks Concert Hall will be performed by Sarah Grunstein, assistant professor in the music department at Holy Cross.

The speakers of the panel and the titles of their talks are:

Professor Alan Kafka, Boston College seismology professor and chair in the College’s Department of Geology and Geophysics; "Earthquakes, Plate Tectonics, and Tsunamis in the Indian Ocean."

Professor Susan Rodgers, Holy Cross anthropology professor and Asian studies director; "Sumatran Poverty, Politics, and Vulnerability to Natural Disasters."

Dr. Daniel Libraty, M.D., UMass Medical School Center for the Study of Viral and Infectious Diseases; "Infectious and Communicable Disease Threats after Natural Disasters: Focus on the South and Southeast Asia Earthquake and Tsunami" (Dr. Libraty has four years of work in Bangkok with the Thai Public Health Service, concerning dengue fever).

Professor Diane Bukatko, Holy Cross psychology professor; "Children of the Tsunami Disaster: Development Risks."

Professor Maurice Weinrobe, Clark University Economics Department Chair; "Housing and Housing Finance in the Wake of Natural Disasters - Indonesia."

All the above events are open free of charge to the public.

Members of the student body will be holding a "Sundown to Sundown Fast" beginning at sundown on Jan. 27 until sundown on Jan. 28. The fast, open to all members of the College community, will provide an opportunity for the College to be in solidarity with the people of South Asia who are hungry for so many things - food, clean water, housing, livelihoods, and, of course, loved ones who were lost. Money otherwise spent on food or coffee will be donated to the Holy Cross Tsunami Relief Fund. All the money raised for the fund will be evenly distributed among Oxfam, Catholic Relief Services and Save the Children.