As the death toll in Haiti climbs, students at Binghamton University are making their own contributions to supplement statewide, nationwide and international initiatives to assist in the relief effort.

The confirmed death toll from the devastating earthquake has topped 150,000 in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area alone, the Communications Minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue said Sunday. Many more thousands are dead around the country or still buried under the rubble.

“Nobody knows how many bodies are buried in the rubble — 200,000, 300,000?” Lassegue said. “Who knows the overall death toll?”

Experts say chances are slim that more survivors will be found in the debris, although rescuers pulled a man buried for 11 days in the wreckage on Saturday.

Haiti’s government has declared an end to searching for living people trapped under debris, and officials are shifting their focus to caring for the thousands of survivors living in squalid, makeshift camps.

U.N. relief workers said the shift is critical. While deliveries of food, medicine and water have ticked up after initial logjams, the need continues to be overwhelming and doctors fear outbreaks of disease in the camps.

Foreign aid has been a crucial part of the relief effort. The U.N. and the U.S. and Brazilian governments have provided thousands of survivors with food rations and water.

Here at BU, a number of students and organizations held events to reach out, or are in the planning stages.

Alpha Sigma Phi, an Interfraternal Council chartered fraternity, hosted “Help for Haiti” at Scoreboard bar on Saturday night.

The event cost $5 per person, $2 of which went directly to Artists for Peace and Justice, a charity that gives 100 percent of all donations to Haiti for relief where they can purchase food, purified water, blankets and other necessities, according to fraternity president Raffi Sorcio.

“Throughout the night 160 people came, and we raised $340,” Sorcio said.

According to Sorcio, the fraternity will be matching this amount, donating $680 to the charity. Over the next few days they will be tabling in the New University Union for additional donations.

A small coalition of Greek organizations is also organizing a benefit event called Dance Your Heart Out.

Remy Beitscher, a junior majoring in management and the founder and president of the Greek Life Committee, is leading the organization of the event. Beitscher said that an estimated 500 people will be attending the event and that he expects to raise over $4,000 for the American Red Cross and The Boys and Girls Club of Binghamton. His personal goals for the event are a bit higher — he hopes to raise $6,000.

He said, however, that there can be some challenges in getting the message out.

“The major challenge I have seen when planning this event is trying to convince people that every extra dollar truly goes a long way when trying to help a cause of this magnitude,” Beitscher said. He also addressed the geographical and experiential distance of Binghamton students.

“Personally, I have never experienced any challenge similar to what is happening in Haiti,” he said. “That is why people living in a safe environment must step up and play an active role in helping those in need.”

Danielle Romano, a junior majoring in English and biology, said the event was originally set to benefit only the The Boys and Girls Club of Binghamton, but organizers changed their plans when they heard of the earthquake’s devastation.

“Initially, we were set to donate our proceeds to … give back to the local community,” she said. “Now with what has happened in Haiti, we think that its imperative to give back immediately to Haitian relief efforts.”

The event will be held in the Old University Union’s Mandela Room on Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. Admission will be $5 per person at the door, and groups can receive discounted rates if they pay in advance.

The SUNY system as a whole will also be shifting its focus to offer more academic programs in the services needed most in Haiti. According to a SUNY press release, schools throughout the system may provide scholarships for programs in health care, construction, education, sanitation and other related fields.

Mitch Leventhal, the SUNY Vice Chancellor of Global Affairs, said SUNY schools would “focus on short-term training and degree programs that can return people to the field, within a relatively short period, with the technical skills most appropriate for alleviating human suffering and rebuilding the nation.”

People are also coordinating efforts on the national level. Organizers of the all-star “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon said Saturday that the event raised $57 million — and counting. The two-hour telethon aired Friday night and was also streamed live online. Stars such as Brad Pitt, Beyonce, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and more used their presence to encourage donations for Haiti.

Lunie Marcelin, a 57-year-old Hatian resident, said her entire family — including six grown children who live with her — survived the quake, but they had no money to buy food.

The handouts “will help us, but it is not enough,” she said. “We need more.”

— Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.