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Haiti Devastated by Earthquake: How You Can Help

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Haiti Desperately Needs International Help: Port-au-Prince Hit by Massive Earthquake

Haiti-the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere--was hit on January 12, 2010 by a massive earthquake and is in desperate need of help. It was Haiti's worst quake in two centuries, and Haiti government officials are estimating the death toll will exceed 100,000.

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck about 15 kilometers south-west of the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, and was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude. (Source.)

January 13, 2010:

The affected area has suffered catastrophic damage; eyewitnesses describe the aftermath as "total disaster" and chaos. (Source). The quake flattened the National Palace, the cathedral, the parliament building, hospitals, schools, the main prison, and countless houses and businesses.

According to the Red Cross, about 3 million people -- one-third of Haiti's population -- were affected by the quake. (Source). Families need food, shelter, medicine, and other supplies. People in Haiti are sleeping in the streets.

Hospitals around the capital were badly damaged, limiting options for treating the injured. Doctors Without Borders reported that they are trying to provide emergency care for severe traumas, including head wounds and crushed limbs, with extremely limited resources. (Source).

Read this lens to discover how you can help the people of Haiti.

(Image from here.)

Haiti has a population of 9 million people, and 55 percent live below the poverty line of US$1 a day. (Source.)

The devastation caused by the earthquake was made even worse by the fact that this was already such an impoverished nation.

Photo Credit

Image above from here.

Raw Video: Haiti Moments After the Earthquake

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What Witnesses Are Saying

  • "It's a horror show," said John Burns, an American agricultural consultant who drove a four-wheel drive car around the city. "There are dead people all over the place, some covered, some uncovered." (Source.)
  • A man on the street yelled out to a Wall Street Journal reporter in Haiti: "Hey, foreigner. We're dying." (Source.)
  • "Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed. There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them." Haitian President Rene Preval told the Miami Herald (Source).
  • "Simply getting through the streets to collect the dead bodies is seemingly an impossible task," CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported from the capital, where shooting could be heard in the background. "There's hardly any heavy machinery to try and dig through the rubble -- people are doing it by hand."

    "The hospitals themselves -- the destination of those patients who might survive -- they're nonexistent or have a terrible infrastructure," Gupta said. (Source).
  • "We have already collected around 50,000 dead bodies," the interior minister, Paul Antoine Bien-Aime, told Reuters. "We anticipate there will be between 100,000 and 200,000 dead in total, although we will never know the exact number." January 16 (Source).
Important!

Hope for Haiti

Hope for Haiti has been given a four-star rating (exceptional) by Charity Navigator.

You can make your donations via Paypal.

This is the charity I made my donation to.

Hope for Haiti

Hope for Haiti is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization whose mission is to increase the quality of life for the Haitian people, particularly children, through education, nutrition, and healthcare.

Haiti's Presidential Palace - Partly Destroyed 

Before and After

For photos of the Presidential Palace before and after the earthquake visit the Huffington Post.

“The most important thing you can do is to send cash to relief agencies." Former President Clinton”

Important!

The American Red Cross

The American Red Cross is accepting donations through their International Response Fund.

You can also donate $10 to be charged to your cell phone bill by texting "HAITI" to "90999."

Breath, Eyes, Memory

All proceeds from this lens go to Hope for Haiti.

Breath, Eyes, Memory (Oprah's Book Club)

Breath, Eyes, Memory (Oprah's Book Club)

by: Edwidge Danticat

Amazon Price: $4.86 (as of 02/15/2012)Buy Now

The story begins in Haiti, on Mother's Day, when young Sophie discovers that she is about to leave the only home she has ever known with her Tante Atie in Croix-des-Rosets, Haiti, to go live with her mother in New York City. These early chapters in Haiti are lovely, subtly evoking the tender, painful relationship between the motherless child and the childless woman.

Danticat also uses these pages to paint a vibrant portrait of life in Haiti from the cups of ginger tea and baskets of cassava bread served at community potlucks to the folk tales of a "people in Guinea who carry the sky on their heads."

Photostream of the Haiti earthquake on Flickr.

Photos of Haiti 24 hours after the earthquake: Life Magazine.

Doctors Without Borders - Haiti Earthquake

January 13, 2010

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A Message From President Barack Obama

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti.

Good Afternoon,

The reports and images from Haiti of collapsed hospitals, crumbled homes, and men and women carrying their injured neighbors through the streets are truly heart-wrenching. As we learn more about the extent of the devastation, our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti and Haitian Americans around our country who do not yet know the fate of their families and loved ones back home.

I have directed my Administration to respond with a swift, coordinated and aggressive effort to save lives. The people of Haiti will have the full support of the United States Government in the urgent effort to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble and to deliver the humanitarian relief -- the food, water and medicine -- that Haitians will need in the coming days.

This is also a time when we are reminded of the common humanity that we all share, and Americans have always responded to these situations with generosity of spirit. If you would like to support the urgent humanitarian effort in Haiti, I encourage you to visit our website where you can learn more about how to contribute:

http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/HaitiEarthquake.

Americans trying to locate family members in Haiti are encouraged to contact the State Department at (888) 407-4747.

We will continue to stand with the people of Haiti and keep them in our thoughts and prayers.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

(Source).

“This is a major humanitarian crisis." -- John Holmes, the UN's Humanitarian Chief.”

Photo Credit

Image above from here.

Important!

UNICEF

Help children affected by the earthquake in Haiti

Hillary Clinton on Haiti Earthquake

"It is Biblical, the tragedy that continues to haunt Haiti and the Haitian people. It is so tragic. They had the four hurricanes last year. We had a good plan. We were just feeling positive about how we could implement that plan. It was U.S., U.N., international. We had donors lined up. We had private businesses beginning to make investments.

There was so much hope about Haiti's future, hope that had not been present for years. And along comes Mother Nature and just flattens it."

(Source).

Bill Clinton: How to Help Haiti

Former President Bill Clinton is the United Nation's Special Envoy to Haiti. On the morning of Friday, January 15th, he spoke to Harry Smith on "The Early Show" about the tragedy in Haiti, the worst natural disaster in the United Nations history, and how to help desperate residents in Port-au-Prince.

"The most important thing all the rest of us can do is give even small amounts of cash for food, medicine, water and for shelter," he said. Such donations, he added, "immediately convert into medicine, food and water."
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Haiti Earthquake On the News

Haiti Despairs as Quake Deaths Mount
The Wall Street Journal reports on the devastation in Haiti.
Haiti quake: The worst of places for a big tremor
BBC News: This was a large tremor centred on an impoverished country with little recent experience or preparedness for such a major event of this kind.
Haiti appeals for aid; official fears 100,000 dead after earthquake
CNN: Rescue workers struggled to clear rubble and bodies Wednesday from the streets of Haiti's "flattened" capital, where a government official said the death toll from Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude earthquake may exceed 100,000.
After the Quake Comes the Disease. Can Haiti Cope?
Time Magazine: With basic health care and sanitation all but destroyed, and millions of survivors likely left homeless, unchecked infectious disease and contamination will pose a threat to survivors.
Agony Sets In as Medics Focus on the Survivors
The New York Times: "I just want my wife's corpse," said Lionnel Dervil, pleading in vain to bury his wife in his home province.
After the Destruction: What Will It Take to Rebuild Haiti?
"Earthquakes don't kill people," says John Mutter, a seismologist and disaster expert at Columbia University's Earth Institute. "Bad buildings kill them." And Haiti had some of the worst buildings in world.

Long List of Charitable Organizations

The Huffington Post has a long list of charitable organizations sending aid to Haiti here.

Haiti: Hunger Facts

Here are some hunger facts about Haiti from the World Food Programme site:

  • Even before the earthquake, 1.9 million people were 'food insecure', meaning they needed assistance to stave off hunger.
  • Only 50 percent of Haiti population has access to safe drinking water.
  • Rural households spend almost 60 percent of their income on food; the poorest groups spend more than 70 percent.
  • Chronic malnutrition affects 24 percent of children under five, rising as high as 40 percent in the poorest zones.

Photoessay of the Disaster

powered by Youtube

Books on Haiti

All proceeds from this lens go to Hope for Haiti.

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Haiti three weeks later.

Important!

To conclude, if you're unsure of where to donate, both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama recommend that donations be made to the Red Cross.

Ten dollars is a good amount to donate.

Two Weeks After the Haiti Earthquake

January 26, 2010

AmeriCares Relief Worker Blog From Haiti
It's been two weeks since the earthquake rocked Haiti. Demand for health care services has skyrocketed in the wake of the disaster. In addition to earthquake-related injuries, men, women and children are suffering from many illnesses, chronic and acute.
Morning Buzz: Taking stock - two weeks later
A behind the scenes look at "Anderson Cooper 360°" and the stories it covers, written by Anderson Cooper, the AC360° staff and a network of contributors. Insight you can't find anywhere else.
Two Weeks Later, Many Haitians Still Waiting for Aid
Nearly two weeks after the earthquake, Haitian survivors are struggling just to find a place to sleep. The United Nations now reports nearly one million people have been left homeless. That's one of every nine Haitians. There are too few tents and not nearly enough safe buildings.

International Response Fund (Red Cross)

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Marelisa

Hi, I'm Marelisa Fabrega. I blog over at Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online.

I hold a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown... more »

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