Jon Bougher ’06 had been filming his documentary in an orphanage all day. He took a break with his film partner, Roman Sasiullian, to eat an early dinner. He was in Delmas 33, Haiti, and it was almost 5 p.m. on Jan. 12.

The earth suddenly began to tremble.

“We just felt this rocking and then the whole house began to shake,” he said.

The devastating earthquake that hit Haiti that day left thousands dead and even more missing. According to the Associated Press, the confirmed death toll has topped 150,000 in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area alone, with many more dead around the country or still buried under the rubble.    

“It was probably the last thing on our mind that would happen in Haiti,” Bougher said.

Haiti is considered one of the most poverty-stricken nations in the world, and consequently, its infrastructure was not built to support the magnitude 7.0 quake that hit its capital. The United Nations estimates that as many as one million people may eventually have to leave cities that have been reduced to rubble to restart their lives in rural areas, according to The Associated Press.

Bougher said about 10 to 15 homes in the area around him collapsed. Those unharmed quickly began searching for bodies.

“They pulled out this one man and started looking through his wallet and saw the pictures of his family,” he said. “Once I saw that [I] pretty much knew that they were going to pull out his whole family before the day was over.”

Later that night, Bougher said a man came to the orphanage looking for pain relievers for his wife. There was only ibuprofen to give him. The next day he came back with his wife. Her shirt was bloody. Her hand was basically a stump. She needed medical attention. Bougher said there was only Neosporin to give her.

“That really woke me up to the problem with aid supplies and medical supplies,” Bougher said.

Two days later, he and Sasiullian tried to fly out of Haiti. The airport was highly disorganized, he said, and there were no set lines — people were waiting in the sun for three to four hours.

“What we saw that day were people screaming,” Bougher said. “People were confused. A lot of people saw this as a act of God.”

With the huge loss of life and destruction, many organizations have come together to help the people of Haiti. For example, the American Red Cross has provided over $150 million in relief funds, according to the AP.

Students, staff and faculty are also helping Haiti on a local level.

Ithaca College will be hosting an organizational meeting for Haiti relief efforts at 12:15 p.m. next Thursday in Textor 103.

Representatives from the Student Government Association and the Office of Student Engagement and Multicultural Affairs will be facilitating the meeting for students to help with the college’s relief effort.

Deborah Mohlenhoff, assistant director for Community Service and Leadership Development, said this will be a chance for everyone to collaborate.

“We just want to be available to provide resources for students or organizations,” she said.  “We want people to come in with ideas, suggestions and a willingness to help, and we’re going to hopefully connect people.” 


Senior Will Mathewson, vice president of communications for the SGA, said he is in the process of planning a program called IC Students for Haiti Initiative to raise funds for those hurt in the quake. He said he is drafting a letter to student organizations on campus, asking them to pledge donations of 15 percent the money they make at their events this semester to a charitable relief effort. Six organizations have already planned on donating.

“This is something the E-board feels strongly about,” Mathewson said. “We are basically making a call to action, and it would be really up to the student organizations to respond.”

He said he is unsure which charity SGA will decide to give to.

Cornell University is also organizing student groups to help with Haitian relief. Senior Albert Lee, co-president of the Haitian Students Association, said his organization is focused on serving as a liaison to student groups that expressed interests in raising money for Haiti. In addition, HSA is sponsoring a candlelight vigil at 5:30 p.m. tonight at Sage Chapel.

“This will be a chance for members of the Cornell community to remember the victims of the earthquake and come together as a community,” Lee said.

Though Lee did not lose anyone close to him from the earthquake, he did learn that two close friends were badly injured.

“They were injured when a building they were in collapsed,” he said. “They managed to survive by jumping off the roof of the building onto another building as the building was collapsing.”

In addition to these efforts, businesses in Ithaca have also been raising money for charities since the quake struck the nation. Wegmans has teamed up with the Red Cross by accepting customer donations at checkout to help the victims. Its program has already raised $840,329 and will last until Feb. 6., according to a Wegmans press release.

Daria Cho, the owner of the Collegetown boutique Daria on Dryden, is also hosting a fundraising event through Saturday in which 15 percent of all her proceeds will be given to the Red Cross in support of its Haitian relief efforts.

“I just think it’s very important to be part of the community, and the community doesn’t necessarily have to be local,” she said.

Cho said she has been successful with her efforts but encourages others in Ithaca to do their part, whether it is by finding their own charity or by texting Haiti to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross.

“The more money we can raise for Haiti the better,” she said. “Every little bit helps.”

Bougher said he hopes all this international aid will serve an opportunity

for Haiti to correct the numerous infrastructure problems it had even before the quake struck.

“I really hope people will think more of Haiti and maybe make more of a long-term investment and understand the problems of the third world,” he said.