Gap year student gives account of Haiti earthquake

A gap year student has recalled her account of finding shelter after experiencing the effects of the Haiti earthquake.

Iman Amrani, who is a few months into a Project Trust teaching placement in Bombita, in the Dominican Republic, said that she was busy writing a letter to a friend when the room and facilities around her started shaking and trembling.

Although she was around 150 miles from the Haitian capital Port au Prince - which is now estimated to have been devastated by the loss of 50,000 lives - Ms Amrani said that she was surrounded by fields of sugarcane and mountains and was unable to find a safe location to take shelter.

"The village was going crazy seconds after the tremors stopped. The girls told me how everyone was clinging to the walls and getting a bit freaked out," she added.

Richard Oliver, chief executive of Year Out Group, said that gap years abroad are often remembered for once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

"I am sure that Immy and her fellow volunteers in the Dominican Republic with Project Trust will never forget what they were doing on 12th January 2010," he commented.

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( Last Updated: 2010-01-15 10:22:23)