Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Help Haiti

I know I may come off as a little late, I know most of you had already known about this, but as of today, Haiti is still in rubbles and chaos. Massive help has been rendered worldwide be it monetarily or physically but till today, Haiti is still in shreds.






Some background info for those who missed the news two weeks ago.

Quote from BBC news website:

A massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake has struck the Caribbean nation of Haiti.

The extent of the devastation is still unclear but there are fears thousands of people may have died.

Haiti's worst quake in two centuries hit south of the capital Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, wrecking the presidential palace, UN HQ and other buildings.

A "large number" of UN personnel were reported missing by the organisation. Many people have spent the night outside amid fears of more aftershocks.

The Red Cross says an estimated three million people have been affected and 70,000 bodies are trapped under the rubble, with up to 200, 000 dead.

Describing the earthquake as a "catastrophe", Haiti's envoy to the US said the cost of the damage could run into billions.

The quake, which struck about 15km (10 miles) south-west of Port-au-Prince, was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude.

The tremor hit at 1653 (2153 GMT) on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said. Phone lines to the country failed shortly afterwards.

There is still no official word on casualties and the extent of the devastation is only now becoming clearer with dawn breaking.

To read more, click here.

There is an extensive and more informative coverage of this tragedy at "dailymail.co.uk". To read, Click HERE.

It's been two weeks.

As of yesterday, there are still hundreds and thousands of people still buried underneath. The entire nation is now facing threats of looting accompanied by shortage of food and water supply. Many people are facing a life and death situation every single moment as you read this.

While we are here enjoying our food, occasionally wasting here and there, the people in Haiti struggling to find food, clothing, water or even a simple shelter.

They need help. I wouldnt want to go on describing or saying more to which how badly the country is affected but knowing it's one of the poorest countries in South America, I think we can all imagine the extent of difficulty of rescue efforts they are facing.

Two channels of Donations can be made to the Singapore Red Cross:

1) Cheque donations
Donations via cheque can be sent to the Singapore Red Cross @ 15 Penang Lane, Singapore 238486. Please make the cheque to “Singapore Red Cross Society” and include name, contact details and “Earthquake Haiti” at the back of the cheque

2) Walk-in donations
Donors may make their cash/cheque donations at the Singapore Red Cross @ 15 Penang Lane (near Dhoby Gaut MRT Station) during its office hours, Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 9pm and 9am to 1pm on Saturdays and Sundays.


For more information, click here.

Here in Singapore, some of us may find it hard to do direct volunteering due to our commitments and other reasons, but I believe a little monetary contribution shouldnt be a problem to most of us. So please, I appeal to all, please help.

Thank You.

No comments:

Post a Comment