Helping Earthquake Victims

On Jan 12, 2010, a devastating earthquake of 7.0 magnitude demolished the capital of Haiti. On Feb 27, 2010 another earthquake, this one a magnitude of 8.8, hit Chile. Since then, three more earthquakes have struck Cuba and the Dominican Republic, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Mexicali, Mexico, and in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake just occurred. Students and teachers alike at Jamesville-Dewitt High School have overall similar ideas as to go about helping these countries in their time of need.

Senior Gleydis Merino doesn't believe that Chile got as much coverage as it deserved, but "they have a better economy. Haiti was in poverty and they didn't have all of the connections to other countries." She believes that we should help the people of Chile out, just not as much as we should be helping Haiti at this time.

Gagan Singh, junior, believes that "Chile should have gotten more coverage because no matter what, lives were still destroyed, and Chile deserves more attention than what it got." He thinks that the U.S. government should send money to help out, too.

Tania Nsouli, another junior, says, "We should help out."

"We should treat everything fairly," Katie Weber, also a senior, says. "Chile isn't suffering from poverty as bad as Haiti is, and there were less deaths - although that doesn't mean they don't deserve more coverage." As far as the U.S. goes, Weber thinks that we should help "as much as we did for Haiti. People should do as much for Chile and treat them the same as we would do for any natural disaster."

Another person who doesn't believe Chile hasn't gotten enough coverage is Tessa Grover, a junior. Even though their earthquake was worse than Haiti's, "we should send people over to help, just like we did with Haiti," says Grover.

Mike Keefe, a science teacher at J-DHS, says, in all seriousness that "the media are getting sick of hearing about earthquakes. The people want to see other things, like car crashes, bodies being mangled and people on drugs!" But he still thinks that we should all be helping each other and provide help for Chile.

Amy Boettger, a chemistry teacher at J-DHS, says, "the people in Haiti are more poor than the people in Chile. Therefore Haiti needed more help and attention," but she also hopes that everyone helps out because it's the right thing to do.

Maria Passage, Spanish teacher here at J-DHS, believes people are aware enough about Chile's earthquake. "Everyone should help, just like Haiti."

Melissa Moore, a health teacher at J-DHS, says, "I think Haiti got more coverage because it was more devastating than Chile, because Haiti wasn't as prepared as Chile was for that." She firmly believes than the help should be similar to what we did for Haiti, but "only as much as Chile requires."

Joe Goldberg, an English teacher at J-DHS, thinks they both got enough coverage. "We should help other countries whenever they need it," he says. "They're both human tragedies and they both merit attention."

Principal Paul Gasparini thinks that both Chile and Haiti "received plenty of attention. But the issue is poverty." Mr. Gasparini goes on to explain this thought: "Haiti's a very poor country. I think people were sympathetic. That's not to say they weren't for Chile, but I think they can deal better internally." He also says "I think there is international aid and development for Chile. It'll take a long time to rebuild, but I think in the long run Chile will come out stronger than before."