The Crisis in Haiti…what will the response be?
I awoke to a picture of a young child surrounded by rubble in the aftermath of yesterday’s earthquake in Haiti. She looked so much like the daughter of a friend of mine. Her no doubt once shining face, covered in concrete dust.
I heard about this tragedy on the way home from work yesterday and by this morning heard that the President had committed to aid for Haiti. I also saw a sound byte from Department of State head, Hillary Clinton speaking of the tragedy.
But following the disasters that we’ve seen over the past 10 years…911…Hurricane Katrina…the Tsunami and the varying levels of support and response given, I wonder what will happen this time. And to be honest, I’m cynical about the global response to a country of people of color. I heard a lady asking for help from the United States and wondered if we would really deliver, in a way that would really help her.
So my prayers and support will be with the people of Haiti and I’ve compiled some resources that may help you make a difference in that region.
Wyclef’s Video on CNN
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2010/01/12/bpr.wyclef.jean.haiti.cnn
Wyclef’s Blog
http://wyclefjean.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/statement-by-wyclef-jean-on-haiti-earthquake/
Way to Give through Wyclef’s Foundation
Wyclef Jean, a rapper and hip hop artist from Haiti, urged people to text "Yele" to 501501 to donate $5 toward earthquake relief.
WFAA Channel 8’s Giving Recommendations
• The American Red Cross: www.redcross.org
• UNICEF: www.unicef.org or call 1-800-4UNICEF
• Operation USA: www.opusa.org
Department of State Update...
ReplyDeleteThe State Department Operations Center has set up the following number for Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti: 1-888-407-4747 (due to heavy volume, some callers may receive a recording). Our embassy is still in the early stages of contacting American Citizens through our Warden Network. Communications are very difficult within Haiti at this time.
Private Offers of Assistance for Haiti Relief Efforts
Anyone wishing to donate or provide assistance in Haiti following the devastating earthquake that struck near Port au Prince on Jan 12, 2010, is asked to contact the Center for International Disaster Information. The Center, operated under a grant from the United States Agency for International Development's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and initial support from IBM, has become a valuable resource to the public, as well as US government agencies, foreign embassies and international corporations. CIDI has established a dedicated page to coordinate Haiti support at: http://www.cidi.org/incident/haiti-10a/
To help, you can also simply text "HAITI" to "90999" and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill. Or you can go online to organizations like the Red Cross and Mercy Corps to make a contribution to the disaster relief efforts.