One week after the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, a 6.1 magnitude aftershock struck Wednesday morning.
The northern mid-section of the country between Leogane and Petit-Goave took most of the damage — the same region that was badly damaged from the devastating earthquake last Tuesday.
Associate professor Terri Teal Bucci, who runs the Haiti Empowerment Project at the Ohio State Mansfield campus, is keeping in contact with colleagues in Haiti.
Bucci said most of the schools and universities are gone, and the University Caraibe, which she works with, is also destroyed.
Thousands of students lie under those buildings, and most schools do not plan to reopen until next year, Bucci said.
As for the Hope School for Girls, the school Bucci works with closely, rebuilding will start tomorrow.
The girls at the school are living in 10-foot by 10-foot depot rooms in a nearby clinic until it is safe enough to return, Bucci said.
Structural engineers have come to evaluate the damage done to buildings, such as the guesthouse where Bucci stays while in Haiti.
The Becky DeWine schools, which are located in Cite Soleil, a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, plan to open as soon as possible, Bucci said.
These schools have struggled with gang violence in the past but worked through it to provide as much normalacy for the children as possible. They hope to do the same in this situation.
Relief efforts are underway, but the problem is getting supplies to the people, Bucci said.
Bucci’s Empowerment Project is a program to train teachers in Haiti. She will continue her work, despite the earthquakes.
“I plan to meet the needs of the people,” Bucci said.
Bucci regularly updates the Empowerment Project Facebook page with updates from her colleagues in Haiti.
