A University of Notre Dame student participating in a service program in Haiti sponsored by the University of Miami is safe and accounted for in the aftermath of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck the island nation on Jan. 12 (Tuesday).
The student, a junior, worked during the recent Christmas break with the Miami program in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital.
As part of the University’s response to the disaster, a Mass and a relief fund for those affected by the earthquake are being organized, with details forthcoming.
Four Notre Dame faculty and staff associated with the Haiti Program also are safe following the quake. A recent alumnus of the University who has been working with the Haiti Program also is safe. The faculty and staff are Sarah Craig, program manager; Logan Anderson, assistant program manager; Marie Denise Milord, a post-doctoral student; and Rev. Thomas Streit, C.S.C., the program director and research assistant professor of biological sciences.
Notre Dame’s Haiti Program is based in Léogâne, about 30 kilometers west of the Port-au-Prince. The four faculty and staff members were in Port-au-Prince at the time of the quake. No information is currently available on damage to University facilities in Léogâne.
The Haiti Program works in conjunction with Hôpital Sainte Croixe on a major initiative to eradicate lymphatic filariasis, a debilitating mosquito-borne disease that affects some 120 million people around the world and manifests itself as elephantiasis.