Matt Weir/The Collegian

Following a magnitude 8.9 earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan on March 11, relief efforts surfaced nationally and locally to aid the devastated country.

The disaster has left an estimated 18,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands homeless, according to Chris Florentino, director of the Richter Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning at Fresno State.

“The relief efforts are slated in hundreds of billions of dollars,” Florentino said.

Organizations like the American Red Cross took immediate action in accepting donations. The Fresno community is also taking part in the international response.

Florentino said that there is a difference between a nice gesture and effective outcomes.

“The major need is for funding,” Florentino said. “While donating things like food and clothes may seem very valuable — just the logistics of shipping — that is expensive and not realistic.”

One way to donate is through the Red Cross. They take donations through a variety of services including their website and by text message.

To donate $10 to the Japan relief, people can text REDCROSS to 90999.

However, Florentino advises using the website rather than text since the text option takes time to process.

“Under normal circumstances, the $10 donation amount is added to a donor’s phone bill, and it is sent to the Red Cross at the end of the billing and payment cycle, which can take 60-90 days,” Dana Regier, director of operations at American Red Cross Central Valley, said.

University Student Union Productions is also taking donations to give to the Red Cross through a drop box located in two places on campus.

“There is one in the USU Recreation Center. It is a big square box with a Bulldog head on it,” Shawna Blair, program and events coordinator for the Student Involvement Center, said. “The other one is in the Student Involvement Center, USU room 306, on the front desk counter.”

Blair said as of now, there is no end date to accepting donations.

Fresno State graduate Miho Schweizer will coordinate a fundraiser this weekend. Baked goods, Japanese foods and handmade Japanese crafts will be sold to raise money to send to Japan.

One of the Japanese crafts will be the Japanese style crane, which symbolizes hope.

“We ask for a donation for the cranes and for people to write their names on it,” Schweizer said. “Then we’ll tie all the cranes together and send them to Japan.”

The fundraiser will be held in the Japanese Garden at Woodward Park on Saturday, March 26 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“It’s not just helping Japan,” Schweizer said. “It’s helping people who are suffering.”

The Japanese Student Association has also been fundraising for the past week.

JSA will raise funds at a variety of events around campus.

At the Philip Lorenz Memorial Keyboard Concert on April 6, fundraising will be held during intermission and at the public reception after the concert is over.

During Vintage Days, which runs from April 15-17, JSA will sell food and drinks with 50 percent of the proceeds going to the relief.

“We are looking forward to continue fundraising and reaching out,” JSA President Toshiro Hutchens said. “Not only to students on campus, but to people all around the community as well.”