Haiti Earthquake Help

American Red Cross Provides People, Money and Supplies to Help Victims of Haiti Earthquake

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - The American Red Cross has pledged an initial $200,000 to assist communities impacted by the earthquake in Haiti, and is prepared to take further action as local responders assess the situation.

Initial estimates are that up to 3 million people may be affected. Government offices, including the Presidential palace, have collapsed. Hospitals and the local Red Cross office have sustained major damage. Many areas remain inaccessible as roads are covered with debris and bridges have collapsed. Telephone lines and electricity are still out in many places. The next 48 hours are critical for life-saving operations such as search and rescue and first aid.

The American Red Cross has made available all of the relief supplies from its warehouse in Panama to provide for basic needs for approximately 5,000 families. Items include blankets, cooking sets and water containers. In addition, it is deploying a disaster management specialist to Haiti, and has additional disaster specialists on standby if needed.

The American Red Cross has an extensive partnership with the Haitian Red Cross, which is expected to lead the Red Cross response to the earthquake.

The American Red Cross has three people in Haiti, who live there and provide ongoing HIV/AIDS prevention and disaster preparedness programs. All of them are safe. The American Red Cross is also sending in a Disaster Specialist.

The Haitian Red Cross was founded in 1932 and is one of the primary organizations in the country responding to disasters. Although earthquakes are less common, Haiti is frequently impacted by hurricanes including those in 2008, and the Haiti Red Cross has developed experience in disaster response due those disasters.

How to Help

Welfare Inquiries:

Inquiries regarding US Citizens living or traveling in Haiti should be referred to the U.S. Department of State, Office of Overseas Citizens services, at 1-888-407-4747 or 202-647-5225
Inquiries regarding non-US Citizens in Haiti: At this time inquiries to search for loved ones missing in Haiti are not being accepted.
The Red Cross family linking response in Haiti will focus on allowing people in the earthquake affected areas to contact their relatives abroad.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has also established a family linking Web site, enabling persons in Haiti and abroad to search for and register the names of relatives missing since the earthquake: www.icrc.org/familylinks
For inquiries about relatives who have citizenship in Haiti, please be patient and call repeatedly until the lines clear or contact other family members who live nearby. Telephone, Internet and other communication lines are often disrupted in times of disaster.

Financial Donations:

Donate online at www.houstonredcross.org. Go to the home page, upper right hand corner. Click on the picture of little boy. On the donation page, click International Response Fund
Donate by phone: 713-313-1753
The American Red Cross is not accepting donations of goods:
- Transporting goods is costly
- Financial donations allow affected communities to get the goods and services they need most to assist survivors and help them recover
- Financial donations allow goods and services to be purchased close to the affected communities. This saves money on transportation costs, supports their local economies and helps them recover faster.