although there's a backlog of other topics it'd like to hit upon that have been mulling in my head for some time, for the next couple of posts, i'm going to focus mostly on the haiti earthquake. having been traveling back to the states, it's been hard keeping up with the situation in haiti for the past couple of days...
when i got home last night, i read haiti articles from sunday's la times. this one stood out:
For the first time since a catastrophic earthquake shuddered across Haiti last week, there were real signs of relief Saturday, with U.S. helicopters ferrying emergency supplies from an aircraft carrier off the coast and bulldozers taking to the streets of Port-au-Prince to shove through mountains of debris.
But there also were signs of the immense problems ahead: the stench of decaying bodies rising from neighborhoods; the sprawling tent cities springing up across the capital; the challenge of getting help to the victims in the face of the breathtaking scale of destruction and need.
LOOTING: Looting continued in Haiti on the third day after the earthquake, although there were more police in downtown Port-au-Prince. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
TENT CITY: One of the many tent cities that have sprung up around Port-au-Prince catering to the thousands left homeless after a 7.0 earthquake. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)
another article today said that preliminary figures from haitian officials estimate that up to 100,000 are presumed dead.
an audio slide show entitled, "so many people need help" can be seen here.
graphic photos can be seen here. some images may be disturbing.
president obama has asked his former predecessors w bush and clinton to help with private fundraising efforts, and the ex-presidents have jointly launched the clinton bush haiti fund to solicit donations from the us and abroad.
i just transferred the leftover $200 from the power of one fund and an additional contribution to partners in health'sstand with haiti campaign to deliver life-saving medical supplies and health-care to injured haitians. if you'd like to help with donations or would like more information on how you can help, please visit this post here for more information. every little bit helps.
i'll try to put up an oxfam donation page in the next day or so to try to do more direct fundraising.
for those who haven't heard yet, a massive earthquake registering 7.3 on the richter scale struck haiti on january 12th. much of the damage was felt in the port-au-prince, the nation's capital. depending on what news source you read, up to 50,000 people are thought to have perished, with about 3 million people affected. thousands are injured and without food and water, and many are still stuck in collapsed buildings.
although world leaders have pledged millions in aid and have already sent search and rescue teams, food and medical aid, and other forms of disaster response assistance to haiti, help that has actually reached the ground is marginal, partly due to the destruction of much of haiti's transportation infrastructure and a lack of logistical support. read a general overview of the situation here.
close-up photos of the destruction can be seen here, here, and here.
if you can help, please do.
IMPACT YOUR WORLD BY CLICKING HERE! the link includes many of the most effective charities and relief organizations rated by charitynavigator.org, an independent, non-profit organization that ranks charities based on effectiveness in the field and financial stability.
haitians need immediate help with basic needs, shelter, medical aid, and food.
oxfam america's appeal for its haiti earthquake response fund can be viewed here. this is what al gore had to say about oxfam america's work in rebuilding haiti:
The earthquake in Haiti has been catastrophic. More than three million people have been affected, and estimates are that over 50,000 have died. The human suffering is unimaginable.
That's why I'd like to pause from our usual conversation and ask for your help.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with 85% of Haitians already living in desperate poverty. Now, with hospitals in ruin, dire shortages of even basic necessities like fresh water, and no way to find out whether family members are alive, the Haitian people urgently need our help.
A number of organizations are already engaged in critical relief efforts, and I urge you to support as many of them as you can. One of them, Oxfam America, has an emergency response team of more than 200 people already on the ground. The need for clean water and critical public health services is massive and immediate -- and our donations can help save lives.
you can also text on your cell to donate $10 to the american red cross, one of many groups working to address the crisis in haiti. more info on that here.
for his contribution to the power of one fund, one friend donated $100 to oxfam america for haiti relief. my sister will donate $20 to one of the orgs working there. another one of my friends made separate contributions to oxfam america, partners in health, and doctors without borders/medecins sans frontieres. the $200 that was donated by 2 of my family members to the power of one fund, but not yet assigned to a particular cause, will be put towards partners in health. when i get back to the states in 2 days, i will put another $100 toward partners in health's stand with haiti campaign.
i'm sure that there are many credible and effective organizations working on relief in haiti; but i chose to donate to partners in health [pih] based on my own independent research of them and the testimony of one of my good friends who so happened to use to work with pih. this is what she had to say of them:
[Partners in Health] They've been working in Haiti for two decades, and their facilities are outside of Port-au-Prince, so they're in a really good position to help with relief. Plus, very little of their money goes to admin/overhead costs, compared to other groups like the Red Cross. I've been encouraging people to donate to PIH. You should put their link in your blog
other factors pushing me towards pih are that 1.) many pre-existing hospitals and clinics have been destroyed in port-au-prince, 2.) reports that i've heard have specifically asked for more medical aid and supplies, and 3.) a functioning emergency health-care system will undoubtedly save thousands of lives. (as a side note, according to this article, partners in health most likely just became the largest health-care provider still functioning inside haiti).
please help if you can. the people of haiti need us!
the preceding were my very amateur reflections on aid. a much more detailed and expert analysis on relief aid for the haiti earthquake can be found at saundra schimmelpfennig's blog here. she's one of the co-founders of the disaster tracking recovery assistance center, an ngo that works on aid coordination and ensuring better aid distribution.
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if you'd like to email your family and friends to help too, feel free to use this template:. you can also copy avaaz's template, which you can get from here.
hey x
how's it going? i'm x. anyways, i'm sure you've heard of the earthquake in haiti. it's really awful. i know money is scarce in these times, but if you have a few bucks to spare, i was wondering if you'd consider donating to the humanitarian effort to bring relief to haiti. if so, ways you can help out are listed on the blog of someone i know. it's linked below.
i really don't mean to put pressure on you, and i know that there are a lot of other worthwhile charities that are working on other issues. so whatever you decide to do is fine by me. my heart just goes out to the people in haiti when i see the pictures of the destruction. i just don't know what else i as an individual can do at this point but spread the word. thought that you'd be someone interested in possibly helping, but don't mean to come across as pedantic about this, so please forgive me if that's how i come across. i don't make appeals to family and friends often or lightly. if you do find this blog post about the haiti earthquake helpful/insightful, please feel free to pass it along to anyone you think might want to read it. hope things are going well in x.
thanks for your consideration.
take care and be well,
x
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some new york times articles on the earthquake in haiti:
I play with poop, am down for human rights, and can make a mean tippy tap.
In the past five years, my work has ranged from agroforestry and food security, logistics, and water and sanitation to disaster response, environmental advocacy, and human rights education--covering a lot of cross-cutting themes and approaches to development and capacity building. The majority of these positions were in resource-poor, conflict, and disaster settings, including post-quake Haiti, the Thailand-Burma border, China, and rural Gambia.
This blog documents my experiences striving to accomplish the following 4 goals:
1.) Care for People, 2.) Care for the Earth, 3.) Reduce Consumption, and 4.) Distribute the Surplus
LOOTING: Looting continued in Haiti on the third day after the earthquake, although there were more police in downtown Port-au-Prince.
TENT CITY: One of the many tent cities that have sprung up around Port-au-Prince catering to the thousands left homeless after a 7.0 earthquake.