Tampa Bay residents worry about relatives in Haiti

Vasty Paul knows a good portion of the small island nation where he was born is in ruins.

Paul knows hundreds of victims are trapped under rubble and that perhaps many more may have perished when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti on Tuesday.

After numerous calls, text messages and e-mails have gone unanswered, the only thing he really wants to know is if his mother is OK.

"It's been tough to focus and study," Paul, a running back for Middleton High School's football team, said.

Paul's mother, Lemene Charles, traveled to Haiti in December to visit relatives. The Middleton senior said he last talked to her about 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Two hours after their phone call, the earthquake struck, knocking out electricity and disrupting communication lines.

"It's been hard," Paul said. "Through life, you go through obstacles and I guess this is one of them."
His worries were echoed by other Tampa residents with ties to Haiti.

Judith Lamadieu-Tuffet, the president of the Haitian Association Foundation of Tampa, was organizing relief efforts and tried to remain upbeat although she could not reach family members or friends.

"I tried to call them and it's not getting through," Lamadieu-Tuffet said. "But I've got a good vibe they're OK."

Lamadieu-Tuffet's organization has partnered with the Caribbean Community Association in Tampa to send supplies to Haiti. Hours after the earthquake, the group held an emergency meeting and began collecting provisions for the disaster victims, association president Evie Larmand said.

Several boxes of clothing, shoes, blankets and other items are ready to go, Larmand said.

"We plan for hurricanes," Larmand said. "We didn't expect this to happen. We never had an earthquake."

With phone lines disrupted, Lamadieu-Tuffet said that she has visited online social networking sites to get the latest information. What she gleans from Facebook updates and Twitter feeds is shocking, she said.

"There are no more houses standing. Everything is down," Lamadieu-Tuffet said. "People are living on the streets. One family is living in a football field. Everybody is very heartbroken."

Tampa resident Fabien Louissaint has spent the last two days trying to reach his father, who works at the airport near Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince.

He said he will keep calling friends today to see if any have heard news about his father. Louissaint said he hopes phone lines go back up this afternoon so he can get through to his father's cell phone.

"I'm trying to stay positive; trying not to panic," Louissaint said.

As international efforts ramped up on Wednesday to help victims, dozens of local ministries accepted donations and agencies including the Tampa Bay chapters of the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army sent teams to Haiti.

Two canine urban search and rescue teams from Tampa Fire Rescue were deployed Wednesday night to help search for survivors.

Lamadieu-Tuffet and Larmand said their associations will hold additional meetings today to discuss consolidating relief efforts.

"A tragedy like this brings the community together," Lamadieu-Tuffet said. "That's one good thing that comes out of it."