BEMIDJI — Ruhi Sharma was watching a movie Saturday morning in Tamarack Hall on the BSU campus when she received a Facebook message from her brother, who lives in Malaysia with several other of her direct family members.

He asked her to call her boyfriend and other relatives in their home country of Nepal, where a 7.8 magnitude earthquake had struck Saturday.

“I tried calling my boyfriend, and I tried calling relatives and I couldn’t get ahold of them,” Sharma said. “Until four hours. At first I thought it was just an earthquake, but when I saw the magnitude I was like, ‘Oh my God.’”

Sharma said she felt hopeless and helpless since she couldn’t be with family members and her boyfriend, who all survived the deadly earthquake that has left more than 5,200 people dead and tens of thousands homeless in Nepal.

Those feelings led her and Bibek Shakya, another Nepalese student who attends BSU, to organize a fundraiser for Nepal in the lower Hobson Memorial Union on Wednesday. The funds raised will support either Oxfam America or the World Food Program USA, which are directly involved with the relief effort.

Sharma and Shakya are among nine Nepalese students studying at BSU.

“We have been supporting each other emotionally,” Sharma said. “But me and Bibek have been trying a lot to get this thing worked out.”

Sharma is a junior studying business administration and Skakya will graduate in May with a degree in business administration.

“It really feels good since a $1 is equal to 100 rupees,” Sharma said of raising money in the student union Wednesday.

For those interested in donating who weren’t able to on Wednesday, Sharma said that people can do so on Oxfam America’s website or on the World Food Program USA’s website.