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A day after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti, cities and villages have been swept away and destroyed like a house of cards. Everyone has seen the videos and the photos of the devastated nation, with the flattened buildings and the stunned people wandering the streets of Port-au-Prince, seeking for help. We can’t look away and it’s impossible to remain indifferent. A whole country needs help and lives are currently at stake; clock is ticking to get critical help to the victims.
Help and donations are coming from everywhere, and many organizations are working hard to provide help to the victims; UNICEF is one of them. We can read on their website:
UNICEF gears up relief efforts for earthquake-stricken Haiti
Despite heavy damage to its own offices in Port-au-Prince, UNICEF is ready to provide immediate support to the victims of the unfolding humanitarian crisis following the earthquake that hit Haiti yesterday.
“While relief efforts have begun, communications are extremely difficult and accurate information is still scarce,” UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said in a statement this morning. “It is clear that the consequences are severe and many children are among the victims,” she added. “Our hearts go out to the families whose lives have been so terribly impacted by this tragedy.”
Listen to UNICEF spokesman Patrick McCormick on protecting Haiti’s “most vulnerable” (external link, opens in a new window).
The Red Cross is expecting to provide immediate needs for food, water, temporary shelter, medical services and emotional support.
The United Nations is also mobilized; we can read on BusinessWeek:
The United Nations and international aid groups said time is running out to save thousands of people trapped beneath collapsed buildings in the capital by the country’s worst quake in more than a century. President Rene Preval said his nation, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest, has been “destroyed.”
“People buried under the rubble are still alive,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday. “We must save as many as possible. The most urgent need is for emergency search and rescue teams.”
Google put online a Google Crisis Response page on which you can find all the facts and information concerning the plight in Haiti, as well as donation forms to UNICEF and CARE. You can also find useful and updated informations on Haiti Earthquake Relief: How You Can Help posted on the Huffington Post.
We hope the horror and devastation from the earthquake will be soon old story (doesn’t mean we will ever forget what happened…) and that the country will be able to rebuild, with the construction of Anti Seismic buildings.
Bon courage à vous tous, gardez espoir, nous sommes avec vous!
