AP - The Obama administration on Friday acknowledged the limits of its initial relief efforts in Haiti, while promising a quick ramp-up in delivery of water and other badly needed supplies.
Haiti needs your help!!!
Text ( yele to 501501 ) this charges $5 to your phone.. It’s a relief fund for haiti established by Wyclef!! They need us!!
“Tuesday afternoon, January 12th, the worst earthquake in 200 years - 7.0 in magnitude - struck less than ten miles from the Caribbean city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The initial quake was later followed by twelve aftershocks greater than magnitude 5.0. Structures of all kinds were damaged or collapsed, from shantytown homes to national landmarks. It is still very early in the recovery effort, but millions are likely displaced, and thousands are feared dead as rescue teams from all over the world are now descending on Haiti to help where they are able. As this is a developing subject, I will be adding photos to this entry over the next few days, but at the moment, here is a collection of photos from Haiti over the past 24 hours.”
Let us pray for Haiti y’all
“ Please text “Yele” to 501501 to donate $5 to YELE HAITI.Your money will help with relief efforts. They need our help..please help if you can. “
Haitians are pulling the dead out from newly-formed rubble in the country’s capital city, following a devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake that leveled buildings, left tens of thousands of people homeless and plunged the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere into disarray.
Recent developments
* Haitian archbishop killed in quake
* Canada, U.S., pledge assistance to Haiti
* UN peacekeeping headquarters collapsesInjured Haitians sat on the city’s darkened streets Wednesday, pleading for help, while untold numbers of people remained trapped within tons of rubble that piled up the day before. Clouds of dust thrown up by falling buildings choked the capital city for hours.
People pulled bodies from collapsed homes, leaving them covered with sheets at the side of the road. Passerby lifted the sheets to see if loved ones were underneath.
International Red Cross spokesperson Paul Conneally said an estimated three million people — one-third of the country’s entire population — may have been affected by the quake, though it will take a day or two for a clear picture of the damage to emerge.
World leaders pledged to fast-track assistance to Haiti, with the intention to send aid workers and rescue teams there to assist in a major emergency operation.
In Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Canadian officials worked through the night to deploy Canada’s aid resources. A reconnaissance force from the Disaster Assistance Response Team is already en route.
The United States, and countries from Iceland to Venezuela, also pledged their assistance to Haiti.
In Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama called the images coming out of Haiti “truly heart-wrenching.”
“Haiti has moved to centre of the world’s thoughts and the world’s compassion,” British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.
Timeline
The disaster struck Tuesday afternoon, centred about 15 kilometres west of the capital city. U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Kristin Marano called it the strongest earthquake since 1770 in the area that is now Haiti.
By early Wednesday, casualty reports started to trickle in. Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, the archbishop of Port-au-Prince, was confirmed to be among the dead and Hedi Annabi, the head of the UN peacekeeping mission, was unaccounted for.
The headquarters for the UN peacekeeping mission collapsed in Tuesday’s disaster, as did the ornate National Palace. The country’s ambassador to Mexico, Robert Manuel, said Haitian President Rene Preval and his wife had survived, despite the collapse of their state home.
The president later gave a statement on the chaos in Port-au-Prince.
“Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed,” President Rene Preval told The Miami Herald. “There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them.”
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry reported that its embassy in Port-au-Prince had been completely destroyed and the ambassador hospitalized. Spain said its own embassy was badly damaged.
It is believed that tens of thousands have lost their homes as a result of the quake, which Dr. Louis-Gerard Gilles, a former senator, said will leave Haitian hospitals overwhelmed.
“The hospitals cannot handle all these victims,” Dr. Louis-Gerard Gilles, a former senator, said as he helped survivors. “Haiti needs to pray. We all need to pray together.”
The first quake struck Port-au-Prince at 4:53 p.m. local time on Tuesday. For the next eight hours, a mishmash of sporadic cellphone calls, text messages and pictures posted online formed the early reports on the quake.
It was felt in the Dominican Republic, though no major damage was reported there. Similarly, houses shook in eastern Cuba, though no significant damage was reported.
With files from The Associated Press
Aid worker in Haiti: ‘Whole world came undone’
Humanitarian worker Luke Renner describes the intense earthquake in Cape Haitian, on the north coast of the island, as “absolute pandemonium.”
How You Can Help Haiti!
List of organizations mobilizing and donating funds to relief effort compiled by Huffington Post.
•The American Red Cross is pledging an initial $200,000 to assist communities impacted by this earthquake. They expect to provide immediate needs for food, water, temporary shelter, medical services and emotional support. They are accepting donations through their International Response Fund.
•UNICEF has issued a statement that “Children are always the most vulnerable population in any natural disaster, and UNICEF is there for them.” UNICEF requests donations for relief for children in Haiti via their Haiti Earthquake Fund. You can also call 1-800-4UNICEF.
•Donate through Wyclef Jean’s foundation, Yele Haiti. Text “Yele” to 501501 and $5 will be charged to your phone bill and given to relief projects through the organization.
•Operation USA is appealing for donations of funds from the public and corporate donations in bulk of health care materials, water purification supplies and food supplements which it will ship to the region from its base in the Port of Los Angeles. Donate online at www.opusa.org, by phone at 1-800-678-7255 or, by check made out to Operation USA, 3617 Hayden Ave, Suite A, Culver City, CA 90232.
•Ben Stiller’s Stillerstrong campaign will be temporarily diverting all donations to support the Haiti relief effort.
•Partners In Health reports its Port-au-Prince clinical director , Louise Ivers, has appealed for assistance: “Port-au-Prince is devastated, lot of deaths. SOS. SOS… Temporary field hospital by us at UNDP needs supplies, pain meds, bandages. Please help us.” Donate to their Haiti earthquake fund.
•Mercy Corps is sending a team of emergency responders to assess damage, and seek to fulfill immediate needs of quake survivors. The agency aided families after earthquakes in Peru in 2007, China and Pakistan in 2008, and Indonesia last year. Donate online, call 1-888-256-1900 or send checks to Mercy Corps Haiti Earthquake Fund; Dept NR; PO Box 2669; Portland, OR 97208.
•Direct Relief is committing up to $1 million in aid for the response and is coordinating with its other in-country partners and colleague organizations. Their partners in Haiti include Partners in Health, St. Damien Children’s Hospital, and the Visitation Hospital, which are particularly active in emergency response. Donate to Direct Relief online.
•Oxfam is rushing in teams from around the region to respond to the situation to provide clean water, shelter, sanitation and help people recover. Donate to Oxfam America online.
•International Medical Corps is assembling a team of first responders and resources to provide lifesaving medical care and other emergency services to survivors of the earthquake. Donate online.
