Burma, a former British colony now called Myanmar, is one of the poorest countries in Asia. On May 2, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar and killed close to 100,000 citizens, leaving approximately 56,000 missing. Thousands of miles away, students on campus are doing their part to raise awareness of the Myanmar tragedy.

The Design for Extreme Affordability class at the Stanford Design School is making products to help impoverished countries, such as low-cost water pumps. Several students in the class banded together after the cyclone hit and created a group for Myanmar relief. Though the students hope the products designed in the class will someday benefit nations like Myanmar, the group is also putting on a film festival and making t-shirts to fundraise for disaster relief.

“We’re trying to raise money because that’s the best way from here that we feel we can benefit,” said Heather Bischel, a Ph.D. student in electrical engineering and a member of the class. “We want to raise money for groups that already have a longer investment in Burma, not only for an immediate relief effort, but for a longer term recovery effort.”

For Bischel, the Burmese situation hits close to home. Her close childhood friend’s mother was from Burma.

“I always wanted to find some way to connect with Burma and also to work on developing a sustainable world,” she said. “This class was a perfect marriage of both.”

Christina Liebner, a master’s student in mechanical engineering, took the class because of her interest in sustainable development.

“The organization that we’re working with [is one] we feel so closely connected with,” she said, “because they design products that help people with their lives. They’re serving as a humanitarian relief organization, so they can grow rice, vegetables and rebuild their lives.”

While the Myanmar relief group focuses on fundraising, a separate group hopes to tackle the political realities of the crisis.

Annalise Blum ‘10, who also writes for The Daily, started the Burma Action group last September in response to the Saffron Revolution, Burmese anti-government protests led by monks. The protests were provoked by an increase in fuel prices by 100 percent.

“It was important to me to do what we could do to support the monks [here at Stanford],” Blum said. “We have so much more power to pressure the government to do things.”

Burma received its independence from Britain in 1947. A political consensus could not be reached and, in 1962, a military coup overthrew the government. Since then, Myanmar has been ruled by a military junta entitled the State Peace and Development Council.

Now, after the cyclone, the military junta in power is heavily restricting the acceptance of foreign aid — an issue Blum’s group aims to illuminate. Blum said that the junta may be afraid that allowing aid or aid workers into the country will give the people force behind a rebellion.

Burma Action will host a talk on the political situation in Burma at 7 p.m. in the Encina Hall East Conference Room, featuring one speaker involved in the Burmese Democracy Movement since the late 1980s, another who is the president of the Burmese-American Democratic Alliance and a third who is an expert in Southeast Asian relations.