Miami U. hosts unique event Friday to help Puerto Rico relief efforts

COROZAL, PUERTO RICO - SEPTEMBER 27: Irma Santiago surveys her neighborhood as people deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Maria on September 27, 2017 in Corozal, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico experienced widespread, severe damage including most of the electrical, gas and water grids as well as agricultural destruction after Hurricane Maria, a category 4 hurricane, passed through. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

COROZAL, PUERTO RICO - SEPTEMBER 27: Irma Santiago surveys her neighborhood as people deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Maria on September 27, 2017 in Corozal, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico experienced widespread, severe damage including most of the electrical, gas and water grids as well as agricultural destruction after Hurricane Maria, a category 4 hurricane, passed through. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Miami University students and faculty are working with the American Red Cross to help with Hurricane Maria relief efforts in Puerto Rico.

During a “Mapathon” hosted Friday, Sept. 29, by the school’s department of geography, students and faculty volunteers will trace outlines of buildings onto mapping grids to help those on the ground in Puerto Rico decipher where buildings once stood.

The efforts will help evaluate the damage sustained by hospitals and medical clinics, the university said in a statement.

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Damon Scott, assistant professor of geography, said the Red Cross in Puerto Rico is asking volunteers from all over the world to help with this effort.

Scott, who has family in the U.S. territory, said he and his colleagues jumped at the chance.

The Mapathon will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. in 132 Shideler Hall on Miami’s Oxford campus.

For more information, call 513-529-7592.

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