Arlin Hunsberger had plans to visit Haiti next week.
Those plans have changed. And Tuesday night, Arlin Hunsberger was thinking about his friends.
Hunsberger is a former Goshen College instructor who has taken GC students to Haiti and has worked in the country for several organizations.
“We have a lot of friends down there,” Hunsberger said Tuesday evening from his Goshen home, as he made telephone calls to contacts and began planning how he can help with the situation.
The largest earthquake ever recorded in that area, measuring 7.0 magnitude, rocked Haiti Tuesday, causing widespread damage and collapsing a hospital in a Port-au-Prince suburb.
Hunsberger said he called an acquaintance in Chicago who had received communication that a family of 11 siblings in Haiti was all accounted for. He said they all live close to one another on the east side of Port-au-Prince. News agencies said the earthquake caused most damage about 10 miles west of the city.
Hunsberger said a doctor acquaintance said she was going to a hospital to help the injured.
“At this point, it is chaotic. There is a lot of damage,” he said. He said power was interrupted in a city where utility services are not all that dependable in the first place.
“We’ve lived through earthquakes in Haiti, but never earthquakes of any size,” Hunsberger said. He said floods and hurricanes are more common and they are more predicable that earthquakes, which strike without warning.
“They are not used to it and not able to prepare” for this disaster, he said.
Hunsberger said he has worked with Mennonite Disaster Services, Church World Service and for 10 years with a U.S. government agency that worked in Haiti, as well as the American Organization of States.
He said he planned to telephone contacts in Washington, D.C., today to learn what his friends may have learned from those in the field.
“I’m sure it’s a mess. It is a place in dire need,” Hunsberger said.
He explained that fundraising will be important to send aid to Haiti. The next step will be getting the funds to responsible people who can use it wisely and help people.
“It certainly will need a lot. Hopefully it will be used wisely,” Hunsberger said of the American aid to Haiti.
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Former GC instructor concerned about friends in Haiti
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