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鈥檚 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 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鈥檚 Haiti Program is based in L茅og芒ne, 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 L茅og芒ne.
The Haiti Program works in conjunction with H么pital 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.