CAMPUS/AREA UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, January 25, 1995
3A
Students organize fund drive
Paulo Eskitch / KANSAN
Osato Shiki, Osaka, Japan, graduate student; Yoko Hara, Hyogo, Japan, graduate student; and Yukiko Shiki, Osaka, Japan, graduate student, fold "Orizuru," a traditional Japanese figure, to remember the victims of last week's earthquake in Japan. Donations were being accepted in the Kansas Union vesterdav for victims of the earthquake.
Japanese earthquake victims will receive money via Red Cross
By Eduardo A. Molina
Kansan staff writer
The Japanese Student Association organized a fund-raising activity this week in the Kansas Union's lobby and in front of Wescoe Hall to collect donations for earthquake victims in Kobe, Japan.
Osato Shiki, Osaka, Japan, graduate student, said he developed the idea when he saw people from different countries sending money to Japan on the Cable News Network.
"I thought this was an excellent opportunity to do something together," Shild said.
He said all donations would be sent to Japan through the Red Cross.
Takahiko Shilu, Osaka, Japan, graduate student, said he decided to volunteer after talking to some friends from Japan.
"My friends are working to help victims of the earthquake in Japan," he said. "I was in my room without doing anything. So I decided to do something to help."
Osato Shiki said this activity was the beginning of a series of activities the group could organize to help other victims of disasters.
"We are not doing this activity just because it benefits our people," he said. "We know there are problems in other places. This is a good start for future activities when we can help other people."
Ken Taro, Tokyo senior, said students working at the tables at the Union could provide people with current information about the effects of the quake.
"We have a list of 800 victims that have been identified," Taro said. "There is only one person translating this information, but the more information we get, the more information we will have in this table."
Terri Johnson, Lawrence graduate student, made a donation and said that this was a good activity to express solidarity.
"I have some friends in Japan," she said. "They are not from Kobe, but I'm really worried."
Erin Keith, Overland Park sophmore, also made a donation. She said she sometimes complained about problems that were not as serious as an earthquake, but she said these disasters helped her to reflect on other people's problems.
"If I find an opportunity to do something to help, I don't hesitate to do it," she said.
Tek Baba, Osaka, Japan junior and vice president of the Japanese Student Association, said the tables would be at the Union and in front of Wescoe this week.
"We want to reach as many people as possible." Baba said.
Kayo Wada, Tokyo junior, said every person who donated money received an "Orizuru," a traditional figure made of colorful paper.
"An Orizur symbolizes peace, love and all positive things," Wada said.
Japan offers relief measures
The Associated Press
KOBE, Japan — Faced with 307,000 homeless people, the largest number since World War II, the government announced tax breaks and low-interest loans yesterday to relieve suffering from Japan's catastrophic earthquake.
Opposition legislators, nevertheless, denounced the government's performance in the wake of the Jan. 17 quake and called on Prime Minister Tomichi Muravaca to resign.
One week after the quake, the death toll stood at 5,063 and 68 people were missing. Another 26,500 people were injured and more than 56,400 buildings were damaged or destroyed in the magnitude 7.2 quake.
Authorities must also care for more than 307,000 people who are now homeless in this once-vibrant city of 1.4 million. The homeless are living in tents, makeshift shelters, schools and government buildings
Plans call for building pre-fabricated temporary housing, but construction will take weeks to complete.
Electricity has been largely
restored, but more than 633,000 households still lack water and nearly 856,000 have no natural gas. Water trucks roam the city, stopping periodically to allow people to fill containers.
The government announced a series of measures yesterday to speed reconstruction and ease the financial burden.
The government formally declared Kobe a disaster area. It will pay about 90 percent of costs for rebuilding roads, schools and other infrastructure.
Survivors can receive low-interest loans to rebuild homes and businesses as well as credits on their 1994 income taxes. Those whose property losses exceed their annual income after discounting insurance payments will pay no income tax at all, the Finance Ministry said.
Local officials estimated the bill for infrastructure repair at $58 billion, excluding the cost of restoring gas, power and water.
Those measures, however, did little to stern criticism of the Murayama government's initial laggard response to the crisis.
anagi demanded Murayama apologize to the nation for the people's suffering in an emotional parliament session yesterday.
Murayama offered no apology but said his government would spare no effort to improve disaster preparedness.
Opposition delegate Akira Kuroy-
Later yesterday, 11 members of the opposition New Frontier Party called on Murayama to step down. The crisis, they said in a statement, was made worse because the prime minister's office was late in making decisions.
The Asahi Shimbu newspapers blamed the government's slow response on bureaucratic confusion and inadequate information on the extent of damage.
The newspaper said Murayama leamed of the quake from a television broadcast about 20 minutes after it occurred. It took 90 minutes for him to receive the first official report.
Asahi said a legislator from the Kobe area rushed to the scene and telephoned the government's chief Cabinet secretary, urging him to tell Murayama to declare a state of emergency.
Campus split on president's call to up minimum wage
Library may be hurt but others say that extra earnings help
By Brian Vandervillet Kansan staff writer
In his State of the Union address last night, President Bill Clinton called for an increase in the minimum wage.
"You can't make a living on $4.25 an hour, especially if you have children," he said.
Clinton didn't specify how much the wage should be increased. But administrators, professors and students have different perspectives on whether an increase would be good or bad.
For KUlibraries, an increased minimum wage could mean disaster, said an assistant library dean.
"It would be devastating budgetarily if the state did not provide more funds," she said.
Nancy Jaeger, assistant to the dean of libraries, said that an increase in the minimum wage might create a budget crunch for KU libraries, which are staffed primarily by minimum wage employees.
Jaeger said the Legislature did not provide additional funds after the last minimum wage increase in 1991. That increase, from $3.80 to $4.25, created an estimated budget shortfall of $80,000 a year for KU libraries.
"We still haven't" recovered from the "91 increase," she said. "We
essentially lost the equivalent of 33 student positions."
"It definitely would reduce drastically the number of students we hire," she said.
She explained that most positions were not lost, however. Budgets cuts instead came primarily from the salaries of higher-paid employees. Another minimum wage increase would affect the current staff of about 250 student employees who earn minimum wage.
Jesse Bethel, Lawrence sophomore, currently works about 20 hours a week at Watson Library. He said that he did not want to lose his job, but that he would welcome an increase in the minimum wage.
"I'm all for it," he said. "It would definitely help me a lot."
Bethel said that he would have more spending money and wouldn't have to depend as much on student loans if the minimum wage increased.
Joshua Rosenbloom, associate professor of economics, said that a minimum wage increase was probably a good idea for the nation as a whole.
"Raising the minimum wage helps people at the bottom end to catch up," he said.
He said that since 1980 there had been little growth in real income for the lowest wage earners. A few businesses might not be able to afford an increase in the minimum wage and might reduce employment.
"The impact won't be huge," he said. "Most employers are already paying people more than minimum wage."
By Teresa Veazey Kansan staff writer
house tours on Sunday and Monday at two KUTraffic
They took the wallets of two fraternity members.
Two men who claimed to be interested in joining a fraternity took more than house tours Sunday and Monday at two KU fraternities.
They also the mathematics of the Waterloo members:
Bryan M. Cowan, Overland Park freshman, reported his wallet stolen Sunday after giving a tour of his fraternity house, Tau Kappa Epsilon, 1911 Stewart Ave.
According to a Lawrence police report, two white males, who were approximately 20 to 23 years old, came to the house and said they were interested in joining the fraternity. Cowan showed them around the house. At one point, one of the two suspects left to go to the bathroom.
After the tour was finished and the suspects had left the premises, Cowan returned to his room and found his wallet, which had been sitting on his desk, missing, according to police.
In another incident, Casey Matile, Emporia senior, reported his wallet stolen Monday from his fraternity, Sigma Chi, 1439 Tennessee St., said Lawrence police.
Cowan's wallet contained his KUID and Kansas driver's license, valued together at $57.
According to the police report, two white males, also in their 20s, came to the fraternity and said they were interested in joining. After a tour of the fraternity house, Matile realized his wallet was missing from his room.
Matile's wallet, which contained cash and other items, was valued at $70. In both reports, the wallets were stolen sometime during or immediately after the house tours.
Sgt. Rick Nickell of the Lawrence Police Department said that from all indications, the two incidents were related. The general descriptions of the suspects and the names they used while visiting were similar.
The suspects in both cases were described as white males about 20 to 23 years old. In the first incident, the suspects were described as 5 feet 9 inches and 5 feet 10 inches tall and 160 and 150 pounds, respectively. In the second incident, the suspects were both described as 5 feet 11 inches. The suspects were described as weighing 170 and 145 pounds in the report.
To keep this from happening again, students should be careful about letting strangers in their houses, Nickell said. Areas with small valuables should be secured at all times. Lawrence police have no suspects at this time.
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