what can be done to aid in the haiti earthquake disaster relief efforts?
HAITI — Haiti’s devastating earthquake has left an estimated 3 million people in need of emergency aid, a Red Cross official said Wednesday, as aid groups and governments scrambled to send tons of disaster relief to the impoverished Caribbean nation. Humanitarian officials said the proximity of the quake’s epicenter, only 10 miles (15 kilometers) from the capital Port-au-Prince, and Haiti’s crumbling infrastructure meant it was impossible to gauge how many people might be dead or wounded. “There’s probably 3 million people potentially affected,” said Paul Conneally, spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, basing the estimate on Haiti’s population of 10 million and previous Red Cross experience in earthquake relief. “Port-au-Prince has been massively impacted,” Conneally said. “There are many, many people trapped in the rubble.” The neighboring Haitian cities of Carrefour and Jacmel may also be heavily damaged, said Elizabeth Byrs, a U.N. hum
Haiti is reeling from a 7.0 earthquake that hit 10 miles of its coast early Tuesday evening. Poor communications are making it difficult to immediately assess the extent of the damage and fatalities, but as daylight comes, the scale of the quake’s destruction is slowly coming into focus. Skip to next paragraph Related Stories * Eyeing tourism, Haiti battles its violent reputation * Earthquake rocks Haiti * Hip-hop star brings help – and hope – to Haiti International Red Cross spokesman Paul Conneally said an estimated 3 million people may have been affected by the quake and that it would take a day or two for a clear picture of scope of the destruction to emerge Thousands of structures – from government and United Nations buildings to the millions of shacks that line the impoverished nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince – have been reduced to rubble. An official Chinese newspaper says eight Chinese peacekeepers were killed and that 10 others are missing. France’s foreign minister said the
The State Department has also set up links on its Web site to facilitate donations to disaster relief agencies. Sources: earthtimes.
