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Haiti devastation
deviliscious
Member UncommonPosts: 4,359
As most are aware of the nightmare devestation in Haiti, The people of Haiti are in desperate need of help in order to survive, and will be needing much more than we could even imagine attempting to provide. The devestation is so severe that they may never recover from this. If you would like to help , here are some organizations you can contact to help:
newsroom.redcross.org/2010/01/12/disaster-alert-earthquake-in-haiti/
donate.mercycorps.org/donation.htm
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/13/world/main6090814.shtml
These people need not only our hopes and prayers, they need relief. Their very existance depends on this. Everything has been destroyed, pipelines, hospitals, schools, relief offices, churches.. everything. It will be very difficult to get food, water, and medical relief to these people in time and they need all the help they can get to try and save as many lives as possible.
Comments
All ready done. Sent money to the RedCross Haiti Relief Fund. I hope and pray that the world comes together to aid and assist that region. It looks horrible and they think there could be as many as 100k dead.
It's so heartbreaking, I can hardly even watch the news coverage of it. How do you exist in a nearly hopeless situtation to begin with and then add a devastating earthquake on top of that?
One of the things that's so unbearable is that Haiti lacks the heavy earth moving equipment to dig through the rubble that has buried so many thousands of people. They, in all liklihood, will not be rescued in time if they are still alive and many may never even be recovered at all.
God have mercy!
Sigh, it breaks my heart when I see a event such as this happen in a area so prone to slow growth. Even with proper organized assistance the people aren't going to recover quickly. The culture is fractious at best. In anycase lets pray as many people can be saved as possible. So many buried...
IMO, this is where you are going wrong. Stating you wish to donate to Haiti and help them out is fine. Asking others if they would do the same is fine.
Judging people with these kinds of statements, uncalled for.
It implies: I'm an angel helping these poor people, and if you don't want to give you're a cold hearted bastard. But I'm not judging you. You cold hearted bastard! I mean, I HAVE to give becuase I'm a compassionate person, but if you just like to see children suffer because it makes you happy, well I guess you wont' give anything.
That's not, IMO, how you convince people to give to a cause you support.
IMO, this is where you are going wrong. Stating you wish to donate to Haiti and help them out is fine. Asking others if they would do the same is fine.
Judging people with these kinds of statements, uncalled for.
It implies: I'm an angel helping these poor people, and if you don't want to give you're a cold hearted bastard. But I'm not judging you. You cold hearted bastard! I mean, I HAVE to give becuase I'm a compassionate person, but if you just like to see children suffer because it makes you happy, well I guess you wont' give anything.
That's not, IMO, how you convince people to give to a cause you support.
Woah, hang on a minute here. I think you are taking her post too personally. I don't believe deviliscious was making a statement about the general public as if she cares more than others. I could be wrong because I can't read her mind, but I suspect she was referring strictly to Hatter who made his opinion quite clear. Again, he's perfectly entitled to have the opinion he does, but it's no surprise that some people are going to take issue with it.
I agree, and I also apologize for even responding to any of it. These people are in dire need of help, more help than could even possibly be mustered by a world wide effort. I do not see Haiti ever recovering from this devestation due to the constant battery of hurricanes and other catastrophes they are constantly plagued by. The only hope for any of these people is from others kindness. They not only will suffer without help, they may even cease to exist at all. The horror these people are currently and will continue to endure is unimagineable, and any relief we can provide is greatly needed.
I really wish there was a way to get these people out of there. I know that is wishing for the impossible, but the thought of them having to endure this horror is unbearable. If anyone knows of other ways than I listed to help these people, please share them.
If the US decided to take Haiti in, and chose to evacuate the people to the US, I would support it given the circumstances. No human being should have to endure what these people are going through.
Sadly, I hate to say that most of the people there are probably not going to get the kind of help that is necessary and a lot of them are going to perish. But just as sad is what life is going to be like for those who manage to survive. And many will. What little semblance of law Haiti had before the earthquake will likely be almost completely gone now and the survivors will most likely exist in an anarchical society.
My biggest concern is they have no food supply, and their fresh water supply was just destroyed. The constant battery of hurricanes will make rebuilding very difficult if not impossible. There really needs to be a world wide effort to evacuate these people to safety.
I just noticed that you removed a couple of your posts. I considered whether or not to remove mine asking about your name, but in the end decided to leave it up because I was genuinely curious about it. Despite what Thrakk said, I do not believe this thread is unsalvageable at all. It's always possible to bring the discussion back if it gets off track a little bit.
And despite the tragedies that befall the world, life must go on. I am by nature not a person who gets down all that often. And yet, when I consider the state that so many millions of people live in, sometimes I think to myself, "how can I possibly not walk around feeling gloomy all day every day?"
I think as human beings, we are not designed to absorb all the pain that exists in the world at any given moment. If we could, it would be totally overwhelming and we would probably completely cease to function in a normal manner.
I think it is important to both mourn and to also move forward with our own lives as best we can.
So anyway. The Red Cross, redcross.org, has set up one of those five digit numbers you can text with and automatically donate $10 dollars. It comes as a charge accrued against your next phone bill. It seems those that want to give what they can and do it easily are taking to this route from how widespread I've seen this exact information be passed around. It's also perfectly safe and gets around possible scams.
Speaking of possible scams, there are warnings out about the Haiti email scams already. As a rule of thumb with any charity, disregard email, mail and phone solicitaion and go with well known reputable charities and verify the information before sending any money. You want to always make sure your funds are going to the actual organization, and it is better for you to contact them, because it is unlikely they would be contacting you.
I just hope we can get an abundance of relief to these people quick. I know it will never be enough, but the quicker we respond the greater their chances for survival.
Speaking of possible scams, there are warnings out about the Haiti email scams already. As a rule of thumb with any charity, disregard email, mail and phone solicitaion and go with well known reputable charities and verify the information before sending any money. You want to always make sure your funds are going to the actual organization, and it is better for you to contact them, because it is unlikely they would be contacting you.
I just hope we can get an abundance of relief to these people quick. I know it will never be enough, but the quicker we respond the greater their chances for survival.
Agreed on the scams. Without a doubt the con artists will drawl out of the woodwork to take advantage. I normally just go to the Red Cross website and make the donations there. There are other ways you can help too. I recall one hurricane that hit the Philippines a couple years back, all of us at the office got all our old clothes and stuff and packed it all up and shipped them out to the victims. It was easier for us though since we had a project going on near the area at the time and our logistics could handle the shipments. You could always check the other offices in your building and do some sort of collection and maybe one of them might have some logistical capability to get the items to the area.
Speaking of possible scams, there are warnings out about the Haiti email scams already. As a rule of thumb with any charity, disregard email, mail and phone solicitaion and go with well known reputable charities and verify the information before sending any money. You want to always make sure your funds are going to the actual organization, and it is better for you to contact them, because it is unlikely they would be contacting you.
I just hope we can get an abundance of relief to these people quick. I know it will never be enough, but the quicker we respond the greater their chances for survival.
Agreed on the scams. Without a doubt the con artists will drawl out of the woodwork to take advantage. I normally just go to the Red Cross website and make the donations there. There are other ways you can help too. I recall one hurricane that hit the Philippines a couple years back, all of us at the office got all our old clothes and stuff and packed it all up and shipped them out to the victims. It was easier for us though since we had a project going on near the area at the time and our logistics could handle the shipments. You could always check the other offices in your building and do some sort of collection and maybe one of them might have some logistical capability to get the items to the area.
You know that is a really great idea for people who have extra blankets, clothing, hygiene products ( soaps, shampoos, laundry detergent, tooth brushes, toothpaste, feminine products ect) , medical supplies, baby and child products and other things they might find useful.
Local businesses could even go in on shipments to get the items where they need to go and reduce the burdens on individuals to ship them.
Thank you!
Speaking of possible scams, there are warnings out about the Haiti email scams already. As a rule of thumb with any charity, disregard email, mail and phone solicitaion and go with well known reputable charities and verify the information before sending any money. You want to always make sure your funds are going to the actual organization, and it is better for you to contact them, because it is unlikely they would be contacting you.
I just hope we can get an abundance of relief to these people quick. I know it will never be enough, but the quicker we respond the greater their chances for survival.
Agreed on the scams. Without a doubt the con artists will drawl out of the woodwork to take advantage. I normally just go to the Red Cross website and make the donations there. There are other ways you can help too. I recall one hurricane that hit the Philippines a couple years back, all of us at the office got all our old clothes and stuff and packed it all up and shipped them out to the victims. It was easier for us though since we had a project going on near the area at the time and our logistics could handle the shipments. You could always check the other offices in your building and do some sort of collection and maybe one of them might have some logistical capability to get the items to the area.
You know that is a really great idea for people who have extra blankets, clothing, hygiene products ( soaps, shampoos, laundry detergent, tooth brushes, toothpaste, feminine products ect) , medical supplies, baby and child products and other things they might find useful.
Local businesses could even go in on shipments to get the items where they need to go and reduce the burdens on individuals to ship them.
Thank you!
You're welcome. You'd be amazed by the amount you can collect just from a single neighborhood. People will always have old clothes that they haven't worn for a long time but just never knew what to do with.
Also, people always have a tendency to think to just donate money but as Bob Geldof found out, sending money isn't always the solution. Right now, those people need food, clothes and shelter more than they need money. It's true that the various organizations will use that money to purchase those items but that will take time. Much faster to collect the items directly and ship them out. Plus, people may find it hard to part with their hard earned cash but they tend to be more forgiving if you're asking them to throw in some towels and an old pair of jeans that they can't fit into anymore.
Do check with the Red Cross and the UN too since they will have major logistics coordination going on that may make it easier for you.
Good luck.
The reality of this:
Living sleep among dead at Haiti hospitals
There is a body lying outside L'Hopital de la Paix in Port-au-Prince - but it is the sight that awaits you inside the hospital grounds that is most alarming.
It is as if a massacre has been perpetrated here.
Dirty white sheets cover some of the dead, others lie out in the open, some, their limbs entwined with another's.
Many are the bodies of adults, but here to the right, a baby on her back, her belly bloated and pronounced.
She is wearing a silvery blue top, just lying by the curb, abandoned.
A man stirs to the left. He unfurls a blanket that covers the ground and lies back down.
The living are sleeping among the dead.
Nearby, still outside, a woman lies on a hospital bed. Like many she is too scared of aftershocks to stay inside.
That is why they are here, out under the dark, star-filled sky.
Echoes of pain
A man with wide eyes stares at a passing stranger.
A relative moves to lift the sheet covering his two broken legs, as if there was any need to emphasise the suffering here.
A woman lies on an unfolded cardboard box. There is a pool of her blood slowly collecting below her waist.
She needs help - so does everyone. The screams and whimpers of those in pain echo down the corridors.
There are few doctors, little medicine.
One woman, a German it seems, says she has just stopped by to help. Her house, she says, was also damaged.
A doctor gives her a small vial and she works her way gingerly over the other injured people to a man she has been trying to help.
It is clear many brought to the hospital with injuries have since died here.
One man with tears in his eyes pointed to his young daughter lying on the dirty tiled floor.
She has two broken legs and a large gash in her head. Her sister is already dead.
Nothing left
"Ca va?" her father asks. "Oui," she replies softly - but she is not okay.
In pockets there is barely anything left of this city, and so far the people are largely having to cope on their own.
Overnight a rumour went round of an approaching tsunami.
Hundreds, it seemed, rushed from the coast and they came along dark, unlit streets carrying a few possessions.
There was no tsunami of course, but it showed how scared and alone the people feel.
Many are thought to remain trapped underneath the larger buildings that collapsed and Haiti has little in the way of heavy lifting equipment to reach them.
The leadership here says tens of thousands of people have been killed.
Some of the UN peacekeepers stationed here are among the dead.
This country, so often in the past forgotten by the world, now needs its help more than ever.
So, too, does another little girl lying on a table at the hospital. She stirs a little, almost looks asleep.
It is not, though, a peaceful sleep - and by dawn she could well be dead.
Quite the opposite experience for me. Back about 3 years ago a Haitian family moved from Los Angeles and moved into my town to escape the crime there. Beautiful people quite literally. The oddest blonde hair matching there very black skin. In anycase the 6 of them are sorta becoming a cultural black focal point for this area organizing cross cultural concerts and getting the few blacks in the area organized into aid work. What they said in the newspaper is, they didnt want blacks to arrive into this town and find a degenerate community of blacks. Rather they wanted them to join a healthy one. I wish more people were like that
Thanks for posting Deviliscious!
Please keep political and religious discussion to the appropriate forum.
I wasn't making it a religious debate nor do I think GL was - it was simply pointing irony out.
As for the donating to charity and lying - that was not directed at you, but someone else because this individual always "claims" to do what is right but then shows utter ignorance at a later time. Not at you at all. I think you're quite sincere and have a great big heart for everyone.
It looks like they can't get anything into the country right now due to the conditons of the port. roads, and airport. I think they are going to need money more than anything else just to be able to ship the supplies they have there. I hate to hear they are having such a hard time getting what they need in, and I worry it will be too little too late for so many. They need nothing short of a miracle right now just to be able to get what they need into the country.
From the bottom of my heart I am extremely happy to see people from all walks of life coming together to help the people of Haiti. I am an assistant leader of a non-profit organization and at the moment I'm trying to consider what would be the best things to send out there as a source of relief, besides what has been posted on the major website. I can honestly say that coming from a place that has hot tropical climate mostly all year around (Jamaica) that sending money and water (LOTS OF WATER PLEASE) is essential at this time. with the death toll being announced at 50k yesterday and no sanitary way of disposing of the dead, the drinking water is absolutely no good. The diseases that can be spread from the water alone is a horrific thought in my mind.
They cannot get the aid to the poeple as fast as we would like them to and there are planes in the air with aid, on stand-by to land because there is only one working runway. The fact that they have more aid than space to unload it, by no means suggest that they have nearly enough to care for the families there. This is why I will be doing my part by collecting and storing as much as possible over these next few weeks, so that when available we can send at least a van full of things down there. In the mean time as others have suggested we should all (If possible) send money, and please send drinking water, please.
Even if we can quench the thirst of one soul, it would have been all worth it.
Saw that story on CNN of the 11 year old girl that they pulled from the rubble after being trapped for 48hrs...she didn't make it. Just literally made me cry. So much tragedy...I feel so helpless...I really wish I could go down there and help.
Sadly, I was expecting this. Haiti has always been a right mess as far back as I can remember. The political and economic situation in that area has always made it a disaster awaiting to happen.
With that being said, I recall back in the 80s the Live Aid event which was organized by Bob Geldof. A historical event which saw the entire world united in a common cause to help those in need in Africa. It was what happened after that which most annoyed me. My friends and I spent literally the entire event awake, canvassing the entire neighborhood for donations after which we would delivery the money to the organizers involved with the event (I was young and idealistic back then). A few years after the event there was almost total silence about what had happened to all the goodwill of the people of this planet. Bob Geldof finally relented to giving an interview during which he explained :
1. The first batch of funds his organization sent to Africa vanished - presumably into the wallets of the corrupted government and officials. This amounted to quite a few million dollars.
2. Learning from (1), they opted not to send money but to send food, water, medical supplies, etc. The majority if not all of these supplies...vanished from the docks. Investigations led them to conclude that these supplies were "seized" by various officials / military and then sold to the general population.
3. Learning from (1) & (2), they decided to take over and literally hand deliver the supplies directly into the hands of those in need. To a certain degree this worked but even he concluded that the level of corruption and "palm-greasing" required to get the supplies from the docks to the people tended to be counter-productive to the whole plan.
This was why my previous post hinted that perhaps money shouldn't be sent. In any case, whoever made the statement on the news that money should be sent is slightly illogical. If supplies cannot be sent via sea, land or air, how would money be of any use since it would logically be used to buy the supplies which cannot get in anyway. Putting the money into the hands of the local populace serves no purpose either since they have nothing to buy due to the destruction. I am not adamantly advising everyone not to send money but just to be cautious about doing so. Nothing hurts more than to wake up one day and find out that all your goodwill went into the pockets of some tyrant somewhere.
It is likely that the general problems faced with the transportation hubs in Haiti right now are due to the initial chaos and damage. With sufficient time everything should be sorted out and the supplies / people will be able to get into where they are most needed. Unfortunately, the truth is that many many more people will die by the time everything gets set up. It's sad but there really isn't much anyone can do about it at this point.
As with all such disasters, all anyone can do is to just keep moving forward and keep doing everything they can to help, and to just not look back. Because looking back will likely just drive you to your knees in anguish. After everything is fixed, you can then go hide in a corner with a bottle of jack and look back and cry all you want.
Sadly, I was expecting this. Haiti has always been a right mess as far back as I can remember. The political and economic situation in that area has always made it a disaster awaiting to happen.
With that being said, I recall back in the 80s the Live Aid event which was organized by Bob Geldof. A historical event which saw the entire world united in a common cause to help those in need in Africa. It was what happened after that which most annoyed me. My friends and I spent literally the entire event awake, canvassing the entire neighborhood for donations after which we would delivery the money to the organizers involved with the event (I was young and idealistic back then). A few years after the event there was almost total silence about what had happened to all the goodwill of the people of this planet. Bob Geldof finally relented to giving an interview during which he explained :
1. The first batch of funds his organization sent to Africa vanished - presumably into the wallets of the corrupted government and officials. This amounted to quite a few million dollars.
2. Learning from (1), they opted not to send money but to send food, water, medical supplies, etc. The majority if not all of these supplies...vanished from the docks. Investigations led them to conclude that these supplies were "seized" by various officials / military and then sold to the general population.
3. Learning from (1) & (2), they decided to take over and literally hand deliver the supplies directly into the hands of those in need. To a certain degree this worked but even he concluded that the level of corruption and "palm-greasing" required to get the supplies from the docks to the people tended to be counter-productive to the whole plan.
This was why my previous post hinted that perhaps money shouldn't be sent. In any case, whoever made the statement on the news that money should be sent is slightly illogical. If supplies cannot be sent via sea, land or air, how would money be of any use since it would logically be used to buy the supplies which cannot get in anyway. Putting the money into the hands of the local populace serves no purpose either since they have nothing to buy due to the destruction. I am not adamantly advising everyone not to send money but just to be cautious about doing so. Nothing hurts more than to wake up one day and find out that all your goodwill went into the pockets of some tyrant somewhere.
It is likely that the general problems faced with the transportation hubs in Haiti right now are due to the initial chaos and damage. With sufficient time everything should be sorted out and the supplies / people will be able to get into where they are most needed. Unfortunately, the truth is that many many more people will die by the time everything gets set up. It's sad but there really isn't much anyone can do about it at this point.
As with all such disasters, all anyone can do is to just keep moving forward and keep doing everything they can to help, and to just not look back. Because looking back will likely just drive you to your knees in anguish. After everything is fixed, you can then go hide in a corner with a bottle of jack and look back and cry all you want.
The problem they are having with Haiti is that they are receiving alot of supplies from large companies and such, but are limited in how they can get it there. SInce Haiti is only accessable from air or sea, and both the airport and seaport are damaged, It is very expensive to try and get what they have already accumulated into the country at all.
The reason why monatary donations would be more beneficial right now is because we have thousands of doctors trying to get to Haiti and need help getting there and need help paying for the supplies they need. For example, it is alot less expensive for Doctors without Borders to buy an inflatable hospital and have it brought in than say the average person. It takes alot of money from many people to make that happen. It takes alot of money just to get those doctors and supplies transported in there.
They are not giving the people of Haiti the money, no instead, they are using that money to get the people that are needed there into the country and to buy bulk supplies at a discounted rate as well as transport it in.
It is always good to go with well known organizations such as the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders because we have seen how their money gets spent, and know that it is put to good use. I wouldn;t suggest going with organizations without a well known reputation because there is a higher risk that the people who need help will never receive it from them.
Though, I would still suggest donating anything that could be used by those less fortunate to local organizations such as the Salvation Army, Goodwill, and your local food pantries, because there are misfortunes and disasters that happen all the time, everywhere, and they are always in need on supplies to keep them equipped. Those type of items would be better served in your local areas where they do not need the extra expense of trying to transport them. With unemployment at an all time high, with families losing their homes right and left here at home, I am sure those supplies will be well needed just about anywhere right now.
I am more concerned about the misspending of the government funds being sent to their government than I am about the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders. The government has a poor track record, where as the Red Cross, and Doctors without Borders have proven they directly spend that money on saving as many lives as they can.
I remember once when my apartment building burned down, Red Cross even showed up then, with blankets and aid ready to go, they even had food available for those who needed it. They even made sure everyone in the building had a place to spend the night. Amazing organization. They are AWESOME!
The rough estimate of number of dead right now is around 200,000. That's simply astounding. That's neary as many as died in the 2004 tsunami which struck several nations. Today I saw a news report that showed dump trucks simply dumping bodies into mass graves and covering them with earth. The reporter said the stench of death was almost overwhelming. I can't even imagine.
As a relief worker, probably the toughest choice is deciding who to help first. I read a report about a retirement community or something along those lines that was being almost completely neglected. I don't know if it was an oversight or perhaps the workers had made a conscious decision to target younger individuals who were also in need. All those older folks were destined to die and many of them probably already have. Man, how can you think about that and not feel sick? I think if I were down there trying to help people, my mind would just go into automatic mode and I would act without pausing to take in all the suffering. It's the only way I could function without breaking down. But then at night it would probably catch up to me.