
{"id":8704,"date":"2010-01-14T10:50:28","date_gmt":"2010-01-14T18:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=8704"},"modified":"2010-01-16T05:08:58","modified_gmt":"2010-01-16T13:08:58","slug":"shock-and-sadness-over-devastation-in-haiti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2010\/01\/14\/shock-and-sadness-over-devastation-in-haiti\/","title":{"rendered":"Shock and sadness over devastation in Haiti"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Beth Mechum and Kirk Ross<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writers<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It was on the eve of Lori Easterlin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s final Haiti immersion class at Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill that a devastating earthquake hit the impoverished Caribbean country.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everybody is just overwhelmed and sad and devastated,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Easterlin said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have students who in the last week have become attached to Haiti and the issues that they have and are really committed to serving that country, and something like this happens.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Easterlin is the teacher of the class, which exposed students to the ways of life of the Haitian people.<\/p>\n<p>The culmination of the 10-day class was to be a spring break trip in March to volunteer at a Haitian school. <\/p>\n<p>As of Wednesday, the trip had not been canceled, but Easterlin said if they did travel there it would be in a different capacity.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We will have an impact on Haiti,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It depends on what the needs are of the country. Instead of serving at a school, we will definitely be involved in rebuilding in some aspect.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Trinity School is one of dozens of local organizations and churches with connections to Haiti.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve just been overwhelmed with calls and people wanting to do something, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very heartwarming and reassuring,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Toby Barfield, chapter executive with the Central North Carolina Red Cross, said Wednesday afternoon. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We appreciate it very much. We want to engage people and give them opportunity to help as much as we can.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Barfield encouraged people who want to help to make a donation to the Red Cross\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 international relief fund at redcross.org. For now, the Red Cross doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any plans to accept in-kind donations.<\/p>\n<p>Individuals can also donate through their cell carrier by texting \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Haiti\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to 90999. A $10 donation to the international relief fund will be charged to their phone bill.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Campus reaction<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nAs the community awoke to news that thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, were killed or injured after a 7.0-magnitude quake struck near the capital of Port-Au-Prince, university officials sent word out to all departments asking for information on any students or faculty that might be in the danger zone.<\/p>\n<p>One UNC graduate student, whose name was not released, was in the capital at the time of the quake. She contacted a fellow student in Chapel Hill to say that although the house of the family she was staying with collapsed, she was not injured and was at a UN refugee center waiting to leave the country.<\/p>\n<p>Peggy Bentley, associate dean of global health at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, said university officials were trying to make sure anyone associated with the university is accounted for.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is quite horrific and very sad,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said of the destruction in and around the capital.<\/p>\n<p>Bentley said the school is reviewing the best way to get help to the country. That will likely start with supporting organizations already on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re waiting and watching,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, adding that officials are organizing fundraising in response to an emergency appeal from UNICEF.<\/p>\n<p>UNC Health Care officials say they have at least one doctor on standby who is preparing to go to Haiti.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Beth Mechum and Kirk Ross Staff Writers It was on the eve of Lori Easterlin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s final Haiti immersion class at Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill that a devastating earthquake hit the impoverished Caribbean country. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everybody is just overwhelmed and sad and devastated,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Easterlin said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have students who in the last week&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8704"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8715,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8704\/revisions\/8715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}