An old ISU tae kwon do uniform will clothe one of the 750,000 homeless people from the El Salvador earthquake. Mauricio Arbelaez, who attended Iowa State three years ago, survived the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that destroyed 141,000 Salvadoran homes Jan. 13. The quake has left more than 700 people dead, according to the Associated Press.After seeing the widespread destruction it caused, Arbelaez decided to join some of the efforts to help those whose houses and personal belongings had been destroyed. He also sent an e-mail to Yong Chin Pak, ISU karate club instructor and described the event in detail.Arbelaez studied tae kwon do under Pak, adjunct instructor, of health and human performance, while he was at Iowa State. He earned a second-degree black belt and was a teaching assistant for a tae kwon do class. Pak said Arbelaez was a person who “helped students in many different ways.”This past week, Arbelaez has been distributing food and water to survivors and collecting blankets and clothing, including his old tae kwon do uniform. Arbelaez said in an e-mail that the damage in El Salvador is extensive. He said it includes damage from landslides and the aftershocks which come often and unexpectedly, as well as from the major earthquake itself. He wrote that many people, including hospital patients, are sleeping outside from fear of aftershocks and because their houses were destroyed.”[The earthquake] felt as if you were on a small boat in rough seas, no way you could walk, you would have tripped yourself. On the street, the neighbors were freaking out, they were running like chickens with their heads cut off. It went on forever [49 seconds]. It was mass hysteria, everyone was crying …,” Arbelaez wrote.

A fund-raising effort for the victims of the earthquake is being planned by Pak for next month. Anyone who wishes to help may contact him at 294-5966.