WACONIA, Minn. - Christina Bristol knew how difficult life would for people in Haiti after the Jan. 12 earthquake.
"They don't really have any response teams," she said. "There's no fire department, and you can't really count on the police."
Bristol is a 1988 Monroe High School graduate and the daughter of Ron Gavigan and Joan Baumeister. She lives in Minnesota.
She went to Haiti in March with her husband, Dr. Timothy Bristol, and their two children, as part of a mission trip with their church, Freshwater Community Church.
They traveled to the city of Leogane, which is about 30 miles west of where the earthquake occurred. The city is home to about 250,000 people, she said.
"It's about the size of Madison," Christina Bristol said.
In March, she and her husband helped set up clinics and teach English.
When she heard about the earthquake she couldn't help but cry. She thought about the children who lived in the orphanage, and she thought about the people she had met and worked with.
"It is true suffering," she said.
Timothy Bristol left for Haiti Jan. 22. He was able to tell her about the destruction and the need for aid.
"The city is leveled," Christina said, she was told.
The city's bank, the orphanage and the nursing school where her husband worked were all that remained.
The school was turned into a hospital, she said. There are about 5,000 refugees on about 10 acres of land. All of them are waiting for help and hoping relief will come soon. Any extra rooms at the school were converted into hospital rooms, she said.
The 7.0-magnitude quake killed an estimated 200,000 people, according to an Associated Press report, which cited Haitian government figures provided by the European Commission. The United Nations said Saturday the government had preliminarily confirmed 111,481 bodies, but that figure does not account for corpses buried by relatives.
Countless dead remain buried in thousands of collapsed and toppled buildings in Port-au-Prince, while as many as 200,000 have fled the city of 2 million, the U.S. Agency for International Development reported.
Haiti's government declared the search and rescue phase for survivors of the earthquake over, Saturday.
Despite the devastation that has left thousands of people homeless and the caused the deaths of thousands, Bristol is hopeful about the future. In part because of the outpouring of support from people all over the world.
"The world can see the plight of this small nation," she said.
People in her community and her church have donated boxes of medical supplies and other relief items.
"It's unbelievable," she said.
Timothy Bristol will spend this week in Haiti before returning to Minnesota, she said.
"They don't really have any response teams," she said. "There's no fire department, and you can't really count on the police."
Bristol is a 1988 Monroe High School graduate and the daughter of Ron Gavigan and Joan Baumeister. She lives in Minnesota.
She went to Haiti in March with her husband, Dr. Timothy Bristol, and their two children, as part of a mission trip with their church, Freshwater Community Church.
They traveled to the city of Leogane, which is about 30 miles west of where the earthquake occurred. The city is home to about 250,000 people, she said.
"It's about the size of Madison," Christina Bristol said.
In March, she and her husband helped set up clinics and teach English.
When she heard about the earthquake she couldn't help but cry. She thought about the children who lived in the orphanage, and she thought about the people she had met and worked with.
"It is true suffering," she said.
Timothy Bristol left for Haiti Jan. 22. He was able to tell her about the destruction and the need for aid.
"The city is leveled," Christina said, she was told.
The city's bank, the orphanage and the nursing school where her husband worked were all that remained.
The school was turned into a hospital, she said. There are about 5,000 refugees on about 10 acres of land. All of them are waiting for help and hoping relief will come soon. Any extra rooms at the school were converted into hospital rooms, she said.
The 7.0-magnitude quake killed an estimated 200,000 people, according to an Associated Press report, which cited Haitian government figures provided by the European Commission. The United Nations said Saturday the government had preliminarily confirmed 111,481 bodies, but that figure does not account for corpses buried by relatives.
Countless dead remain buried in thousands of collapsed and toppled buildings in Port-au-Prince, while as many as 200,000 have fled the city of 2 million, the U.S. Agency for International Development reported.
Haiti's government declared the search and rescue phase for survivors of the earthquake over, Saturday.
Despite the devastation that has left thousands of people homeless and the caused the deaths of thousands, Bristol is hopeful about the future. In part because of the outpouring of support from people all over the world.
"The world can see the plight of this small nation," she said.
People in her community and her church have donated boxes of medical supplies and other relief items.
"It's unbelievable," she said.
Timothy Bristol will spend this week in Haiti before returning to Minnesota, she said.