While most people watched the devastation of the Haiti earthquake on television, some Ohio State students experienced the disaster firsthand.
Jessica Desronvil, a fourth-year in psychology, is a Haiti native who was personally affected by the earthquake. Her family lives in Port-au-Prince and was in the city when the 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the region.
Desronvil found out about the earthquake from Facebook. After reading postings about the quake, she phoned her parents to find out what happened.
“So I called my dad and he said ‘That’s impossible,'” Desronvil said. “He didn’t believe it because he had just got off the phone with my uncle [in Haiti] 10 minutes before it happened.”
Several of Desronvil’s relatives were injured and some died in the disaster.
“About 10 or more are dead,” Desronvil said. “We are currently still looking for other family members who were not home at that time but were at work.”
Although it’s been two weeks since the earthquake hit, Desronvil is still in disbelief.
“I still don’t believe it,” she said. “I’m still looking for the others because something inside of me is telling me this is just a bad dream.”
Christine Placide, a fourth-year African-American studies major, is also related to earthquake survivors. Her parents are natives of Haiti and were in the country when the earthquake hit.
“I found out about it on Twitter,” Placide said. “So I immediately just called my parents to make sure they were OK.”
Placide is chair of the events committee of Society of Sisters at OSU. After the earthquake hit, her student organization began collecting clothing, health supplies and monetary donations on campus for the earthquake victims.
“We’re just trying to collaborate with other student groups to help out,” she said.
Collecting donations helps her cope with the disaster and she said she and her family are relying on faith to get through the trying time.
“My parents aren’t really distraught,” Placide said. “They just pray and get their strength through faith in God.”
