Local Man Prays For Missing Loved Ones After Earthquake

CENTRAL OHIO -- Central Ohio residents with ties to Haiti are hoping and praying their loved ones are OK after Tuesday afternoon's magnitude-7.0 quake.

Pelege Lareus stands in disbelief, trying to accept the fact that the devastation he sees on TV is the place he used to call home and the place where many of his relatives remain.

Lareus migrated to the United States from Haiti in 1991.

"If you see this right here -- your heart just -- you just can't take it. You just want to go in there and do something, but you can't. You feel like you're stuck," he said while watching news coverage.

In the hours following the earthquake, Lareus said he and his family were unable to locate his sister Michelene who is in school near Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

"I got word (Wednesday) morning, talked to my dad, and she is fine, but the school was damaged," he said.

Lareus 14-year-old nephew, Max, like so many others, still is missing.

"There's no word of him. We don't know if he's alive or dead," he said.

He said a mudslide triggered by the earthquake has cutoff his village of Bai-Du-Mesh, which is seven hours from the capital.

Some Central Ohio natives remain in the middle of the chaos.

Gretchen DeVoe of Westerville is a missionary at Lifeline Christian Mission in Haiti.

"We did not get any sleep last night. We had a second quake that occurred about midnight and then tremors every 10 minutes all night long," she said in a blog entry posted Wednesday morning. "We don't have supplies to treat all the people here. They are coming here in large numbers with broken limbs and severe wounds."

NBC 4 will have special coverage and host a CALL 4 with the American Red Cross from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday evening.

Volunteers will answer your questions about how you can help with recovery efforts and accept your over-the-phone donation by credit card.

4's ARMY: Helping Haiti Recover starts at 5 p.m. and concludes at 6:30 p.m.

Call 614-821-4444 to participate.

Donations also can be made to the American Red Cross by calling 800-REDCROSS (257-7575) and online at http://www.redcross.org.

Mail your donations to American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013.

Lareus also runs a nonprofit foundation for his village. Learn more and make a donation by visiting http://www.handtohandhaiti.org.

TO DONATE TO THE RELIEF EFFORTS

Lifeline Christian Mission of Westerville:
http://www.lifeline.org or 614-794-0108.

Hand to Hand Foundation of New Albany:
http://www.handtohandhaiti.com

Catholic Relief Services:
https://secure.crs.org/site/Donation2?df_id=3181&3181.donation=form1, 800-736-3467 or mail a check donation to Catholic Relief Services, P.O. Box 17090, Baltimore, MD 21203-7090

Salvation Army:
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org or 800-SAL-ARMY

Columbus Jewish Federation/American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC):
http://www.jdc.org, 212-687-6200 or mail a check donation to JDC-Haiti Earthquake Relief, P.O. Box 530, 132 East 43rd St., New York, NY, 10017

For additional information, stay with NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com -- Where Accuracy Matters.
To submit a story idea or news tip, e-mail stories@nbc4i.com.
MORE: NBC 4 Local News | Local Crime News
NBC 4 SPORTS: Sports News, Video
NBC 4 POLITICS: Headlines, Interactives & Video