The destructiion in Haiti is insurmountable, and the outpuring of assitance from the worldwide community is unbelievable. Numerous organization, celebrities, politicians, banking firms, media moguls, etc., have all came out to offer their help, and it is about time.
There was no estimate on how many people were killed by Tuesday's magnitude-7 quake. Haitian President Rene Preval said the toll could be in the thousands. Leading Sen. Youri Latortue told The Associated Press the number could be 500,000, but conceded that nobody really knew.
President Obama, along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that the administration will provide long-term assistance to help Haiti recover.
"This is going to be a long-term effort," Clinton said on NBC's Today show. "We have the immediate crisis of trying to save those lives that can be saved, to deal with the injured... to try to provide food, water, medical supplies, some semblance of shelter."
Why did it it take such a disastrous event for the world to finally show it's concern for this impoverished nation? Haiti fought for and won it's freedom some 61 years before American would end the plight of slavery on it's soil, in 1804. They had started a revolution that would last from the 1790's on to the date they were declared a free nation. Since this time, they have been grossly overlooked by the world community as a whole.
Haiti is in a precarious geographical location that has wrought numerous disasters on this tiny little nation no bigger than the state of Maryland. They are in direct line with the hurricane lane, it is situated in an unstable tectonic locale, and the single most reason this nation goes through so much hardship during these disasters is because of it's poverty and the poor infrastructure. They were always a nation attempting to thrive, and now they are just trying to survive. This earthquake took everyone by surprise, and it showed that the people of this nation were ill prepared for a disaster of this proportion.
I am taken back by some of the comments by so called Christian zealots as Pat Robertson, and other Conservative politicians. It is shameful to say the least that these men of distinction can't even have dignity to respect the people of this nation. It seems that the same attitude applied for New Orleans when hurricane Katrina struck here in the United States. It is time to put away this behavior and begin to act like human beings. I abhor the thought of anything happening in this country that would match the proportions of destruction now seen in Haiti. Would this same attitude then apply to our citizens?
The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) is the period of violent conflict in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, leading to the elimination of slavery and the establishment of Haiti as the first republic ruled by blacks. Although hundreds of rebellions occurred during the slave era, only the revolt on Saint-Domingue, beginning in 1791, was successful in permanently abolishing slavery. The Haitian Revolution is the only successful slave revolt in human history, [1] and, as such, is regarded as a defining moment in the history of Africans in the new world
I donated yesterday by texting Yele to 501501, which is Wyclef Jeans's organization. I suggest those reading this do the same of at least find an organization that can assure that the help you give is going directly to aid the people of Haiti.
HOW TO HELP:
Action Against Hunger, 877-777-1420
Agape Flights, 941-584-8078
American Red Cross, 800-733-2767
American Jewish World Service, 212-792-2900
AmeriCares, 800-486-4357
Beyond Borders, 866-424-8403
CARE, 800-521-2273
CarmaFoundation
Catholic Relief Services, 800-736-3467
Childcare Worldwide, 800-553-2328
Concern Worldwide, 212-557-8000
Cross International, 800-391-8545
Direct Relief International, 805-964-4767
Doctors Without Borders, 888-392-0392
Feed My Starving Children, 763-504-2919
Food for the Poor, 800-427-9104
Friends of WFP, 866-929-1694
Haiti Children, 877-424-8454
Haiti Foundation Against Poverty
Haiti Marycare, 203-675-4770
Haitian Health Foundation, 860-886-4357
Hope for Haiti, 239-434-7183
International Medical Corps, 800-481-4462
International Rescue Committee, 877-733-8433
International Relief Teams, 619-284-7979
Lutheran World Relief, 800-597-5972
Medical Teams International, 800-959-4325
Meds and Food for Kids, 314-420-1634
Mennonite Central Committee, 888-563-4676
Mercy Corps, 888-256-1900
Operation Blessing, 800-730-2537
Operation USA, 800-678-7255
Oxfam, 800-776-9326
Partners in Health, 617-432-5298
Rural Haiti Project, 347-405-5552
The Salvation Army, 800-725-2769
Samaritan's Purse, 828-262-1980
Save the Children, 800-728-3843
UN Central Emergency Response Fund
UNICEF, 800-367-5437
World Concern, 800-755-5022
World Hope International, 888-466-4673
World Relief, 800-535-5433
World Vision, 888-511-6548
Yele Haiti, 212-352-0552
Wyclef Jean's grassroots org
Text Yele to 501 501 to donate $5 via your cellphone
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