MIAMI – The death toll in Haiti has surpassed 1,200 following Saturday’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake.
Francois Alexandre is grateful that his family was spared, but the home where his family lives in Haiti was destroyed.
“My cousin was working as the earthquake was going on,” he said. “She is at home now, she is okay, but some debris fell on her. The hospital is completely gone.”
Video from the ground showed people panicking in fear and running into the street, a sight similar to what the nation saw in 2010 when an earthquake killed more than 250,000.
“Things are continuing to worsen and at this time the hospitals is basically out of capacity,” Marleine Bastien, Executive Director of the Family Action Network Movement (FANM), said Sunday morning on This Week in South Florida.
Reports from Haiti said people are being treated outside, and women and children are among the badly injured.
In South Florida, people are lending a helping hand.
Organizers came together Sunday to form a collection site, gathering medical supplies, food and many other items needed in Haiti.
The Smile Trust Foundation is leading the effort.
Those who wish to make donations can drop them off donations at 720 Northwest 55th Street in Miami.
Sunday morning, Archbishop Thomas Wenski lead the congregation at the Cathedral of St. Mary Church in a prayer as they reflected on the tragedy in Haiti.
“We come to pray and ask the lord to give us strength that will allow us allow the Haitian people to find the resilience that they have deep within themselves to survive this latest challenge to them,” said Wenski.
Also lending a hand was a combined effort between the World Central Kitchen and Team Rubicon, who worked Sunday to fill a Jet Blue flight with relief supplies.
The Executive Director of World Central Kitchen told Local 10 News it is food that they need more in Haiti right now.
World Central Kitchen is a non-profit, non-government organization devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters.