The number of dead—estimates ranged as high as 300,000—following the tsunami was almost too large to grasp. But at Stanford, the tragedy had a face and a name. James Hsu, a 25-year-old Business School student in Thailand on a study trip, was missing and presumed dead after attempts by his family to find him were unsuccessful.
Hsu was among 25 GSB students who traveled to Singapore and Thailand on the trip, which concluded in Phuket on December 22. Most of the students went home. Hsu, Laura Wales and two others stayed on Phi Phi island off Thailand’s coast. Hsu’s exact whereabouts at the time the tsunami hit are unknown.
Wales injured her right leg and later developed pneumonia and blood poisoning. A GSB classmate, Bryan Gaw, in Bangkok at the time, worked with Wales’s family to airlift her from the local clinic where she was being treated. She was released from Stanford Hospital in late January.
Approximately 800 people attended a vigil for tsunami victims January 6 at Memorial Church. GSB student Lorri Elder, ’96, was among the speakers. “We must honor James by coming together,” she said.
Business School students did just that, organizing a relief fund with a goal of $50,000. With contributions from students, staff, faculty, and Hsu’s friends and colleagues, they had raised $60,500 by early February. Funds will go to the Red Cross.
