Tucson woman working to help Colombia earthquake victims | Local News

TUCSON, Ariz. (KVOA) – A Tucson woman with ties to Colombia says the sooner more help arrives, the better after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake destroyed her childhood home.

The latest estimates show as many as 120,000 people left homeless in Colombia after the earthquake. Most of Christina Baena’s family is there right now. She says the damage in her hometown will be very hard to come back from.

“That is the house where I grew up since I was 8 years old,” Baena said.

She says for her and for so many looking to help, Colombia is out of reach right now. The airport is closed for at least a few more days. Meanwhile, water and electricity are slow to come back on.

Baena is seeing it all from her family in some of the hardest hit spots. Her parents, older sister and all of their siblings are there.

“I have a lot of uncles and aunts,” Baena said. “I got to the point where I couldn’t watch anymore videos or I couldn’t go online and look at it because it was simply too overwhelming.”

While she says she takes comfort in knowing crews are doing what they can to help, she knows the road isn’t a short one. Not just for her house, but for the community she calls home.

“I see the work people on the ground are doing so I am hopeful they’re gonna come out of this,” Baena said. “The structural damage is so big that this is going to be a long long journey of rebuilding peoples homes.”

“I think my little bit of support has to be from here,” Baena said.

Baena is working with several places here in Tucson to help raise money and collect donations. She hopes it’s an effort that keeps growing.

Baena says this website a has list of nonprofits, recommended by the First lady of Colombia, accepting help.

She also says Batey Puerto Rican Gastronomy at 4230 N. Oracle Rd. #100 is accepting donations until August 28th. They are open from 12pm-8pm Wednesday through Sunday.