A magnitude 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti Tuesday and was the worst to hit the country in the past two centuries.
The death toll is not yet official, but according to the Associated Press it may be more than 500,000 people. Schools, neighborhoods, cathedrals, hospitals and the president’s palace were among the wreckage. Amy Potter, graduate student in geography and anthropology, said she was devastated to see Haiti endure another large disaster. “I’m just wondering why,” Potter said. “After all the hurricanes, all the coups, and all the struggle, why this?” Potter wrote her master’s thesis on Haiti and said she is passionate about the country. “Because it’s Haiti, I can’t just sit back,” she said. According to International Services, three students from Haiti were enrolled in the University for the fall of 2009. Potter will lead a project to organize a campus effort in aiding Haitians in their time of need. Kent Mathewson, geography professor, said because Haiti is one of the poorest and least developed nations in the world, there will be a need for tremendous outside assistance. Ricky Jean-Francois, former University football player and now a San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman, told The Sacramento Bee he wanted to get the NFL, as well as the players, involved in disaster relief efforts. Jean-Francois, who has family who live in Haiti, said he is still waiting to hear back from all of them. “In Haiti, everything is made out of cement,” Jean-Francois told The Sacramento Bee. “There are barely any houses left standing.”