BY DENISE RICHARDSON
STAFF WRITER
Some local residents with ties to Haiti have been trying to reach loved ones following the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that rocked the island nation Tuesday night.
Results have been mixed.
Philippe Victor, 23, a student at Oneonta Job Corps Academy from Long Island, said Wednesday that a cousin was missing.
Luckens Damus, a Haitian student in his junior year at Hartwick College in Oneonta, said news of the earthquake Tuesday was ``shocking.'' He hadn't reached his mother by Wednesday night after repeated calls, he said, and television reports were his source of updates.
``I just wish I was in Haiti,'' Damus said. ``It is difficult. It is very difficult.''
Tuesday's earthquake destroyed buildings in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, and official numbers on deaths and injuries weren't available Wednesday night.
The Rev. Jeff McLallen of South Edmeston Community Church said he was blessed to receive a call soon after the earthquake from his friend and colleague Pastor Thomslay Laguerre.
``His family is OK, but his house is flattened, and his church is flattened,'' McLallen said Wednesday. ``He asked us to pray. ... I felt really blessed to be able to hear from him.''
McLallen leads a multichurch missionary committee, which for at least three years has helped support Laguerre, his family and his church in Port-au-Prince. Laguerre and his wife, Lucie, have three children about 8 years old and younger, McLallen said.
Laguerre has visited the area several times, and on Wednesday night, McLallen and others met at the South Edmeston Community Church to pray and discuss ways to help their church family.
``There's a real outpouring of prayer and concern and wanting to help,'' McLallen said.
Barbara Horton of Walton said she was part of a mission group last year that helped with construction, including work at Laguerre's church. Horton said she was relieved to hear Wednesday that Laguerre was all right but remained concerned about the quake's impact on the Haitian people.
``My heart's breaking for them, crying for them,'' said Horton, a member of Trout Creek Community Church, a Baptist congregation. ``I've just been praying and praying and praying.''
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The country has had political turmoil, and was struck four times by catastrophic storms in 2008.
At the Otsego County Office of Emergency Services, coordinator Lyle ``Butch'' Jones said his department has received updates from the state and federal emergency management agencies. Both levels of government are assessing damages and needs and are discouraging anyone from self-deployment to the region, Jones said Wednesday.
The American Red Cross is sending experts to Haiti, but no one who isn't trained in international emergency response, said Cindy Gordineer, chief executive officer of the Southern Tier Chapter of the American Red Cross. The chapter coverage area includes Delaware, Chenango and Otsego counties.
The American Red Cross has pledged $1 million to rescue and recovery efforts in Haiti, Gordineer said, and many callers have been asking about how to help.
``Make a donation,'' Gordineer said Wednesday. ``Really, that's going to be the only way any of us can help.''
The American Red Cross has sent experts to help and provide supplies for daily life, such as tarps and cooking utensils, Gordineer said, and the recovery will take a long time and money.
Damus also urged concerned residents to make donations to help Haiti and its citizens. The country, like any country, has had ups and downs, he said.
``It's a beautiful country,'' Damus said.
Victor, an American, said he was born and grew up on Long Island. But he said he talks every day to Haitian relatives, including his stepmother, aunt, cousins and grandparents, and he has vacationed annually there since childhood. The people take pride in how they do things, he said.
``To me, it is a beautiful country,'' Victor said.
His relatives in Haiti aren't employed and depend on family in the United States for money. Since the earthquake, his relatives on Long Island have passed on updates, he said.
``My first cousin is missing,'' Victor said late Wednesday afternoon. ``I'm very worried. I think about it, but I try not to think about it.
``There's not much I can do. I can't go down there. I don't even know what to say.''
