How to Help Haiti - Earthquakes of the Caribbean

First off there are ways that you can help make a difference in this crisis even though the infrastructure in Haiti has been destroyed the airport is open and International Groups outside of Haiti are preparing to send in help as soon as possible.

Here is a list of organizations that you may donate to and should donate to in order to help the recovery process and take care of the survivors.. many who have lost families, homes, jobs...the infrastructure of their own personal lives.

Don't EVER feel you don't have enough money to give...no amount is too small. Donate what you would spend on dinner tonight and eat leftovers or a light meal. What is the cost of a fast food meal at your local drive through rather than going home and having leftovers? A movie? Stay home and donate the money. People feel that unless they can write out a check for $50 it's worthless. That is so not true. Many organizations are kept alive and working by small donations on a regular basis of $5 and multiplied by a large number of people on a regular basis. I have a friend who worked in such an agency, they would get money...cash... even though they say "do not send cash" they would open up envelopes all the time with single dollar bills, three dollar bills or a five dollar bill and she said they would add it in and tally it up every day in the deposits. Money is money.

You have a credit card or a bank card? You know how to use it to buy online at Amazon or Barnes and Noble? It works the same way for many charities... it is the same, that simple, that easy.

In time many Church groups and charities with ties to the island will begin the process of bringing in clothes and other items needed by the people there.

Right now...they need money for medication, basic supplies and there is a way you can help even if seems like your little bit is insignificant and there is no real way to help other than large aid from other countries. America will help, the President will outline his plan. But just as you don't need to be told to wash your hands to avoid getting the flu ...neither do you need to feel there is nothing you personally can do.

Wash your hands of some money, lighten your wallet, don't go see a movie this weekend or get a manicure this week... eat less and send the difference to one of the groups below. The list of agencies sending help will grow...this is just a small list.


Operation Helping Hands, a joint community project of The Miami Herald and United Way-Miami, will be collecting donations to support the relief effort in Haiti.
To make a contribution, go to www.iwant2help.org

UNICEF is seeking donations to the ongoing emergency relief efforts in Haiti and the Caribbean region through www.unicefusa.org/haitiquake or call 1-800-4UNICEF

Mercy Corps established a Haiti Earthquake Fund, PO Box 2669,Portland, OR 97208, www.mercycorps.org, 1-888-256-1900


The Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) natural disaster relief arm of the OAS ... to donate to visit its special relief website called www.PanAmericanRelief.org

The Archdiocese of Miami is accepting financial donations to assist with recovery efforts for the earthquake victims in Haiti. People may send their donations to Catholic Charities, 1505 NE 26th St. Wilton Manors, FL 33305, Attention Earthquake Victims.

One of my favorite charities for this region in particular:

http://www.foodforthepoor.org/

and as always www.redcross.org

In order to find out about loved ones and or employees or co-workers currently working in Haiti the following number has been set up:

1-888-407-4747

To understand the magnitude of this devastation the United Nations itself is trying to locate it's own employees as the UN Mission in Haiti was destroyed by the Quake and all communication is down... many people are missing. Most people forget that there is a 3,000 force from the UN that is down there as a peace keeping mission and those people come from everywhere... America to Sri Lanka. If the UN cannot get in touch with it's own people... imagine what is going on in Little Haiti today in the Miami area where there is not one person who has not been personally touched by this horrible tragedy.

A link to more information on the UN Mission:
http://blogs.wsj.com/dispatch/2010/01/13/un-peacekeepers-suffer-casualties-in-haiti/

Working and living in the Miami area this is a personal thing for me as I have worked with and taught Haitians and many of my neighbors and friends are Haitians. It is not a far away, foreign culture for me but as much a part of my life as is Cuban Coffee and shopping at the Jamaican market down the street to buy fresh rosemary or bonitos or ginger coconut candy. Often I jump on a Haitian jitney to get across town and while doing so I hear everyone talk and comment in a mix of english and patois to the Haitian radio always running in the background playing music and news of Haiti.

Earthquakes in the Caribbean are not rare but we don't hear about them all the time. They are often small and they go unnoticed under the radar. It's only the big ones and yet it is a very active region geologically.

What surprises me often is how active it is and yet again..they are 3.0 and 3.5 and out under the Mona Passage in the Ocean..where something is quietly rumbling.

Haiti has been at a risk for a long time.. we ignore the signs. In October of 2008 a study out of the University of Havana issued a report that they would soon have a strong Earthquake based on ongoing activity constantly going on in the area.

Here is a list of recent earthquake activity around the world. Look how often Puerto Rico and the Mona Passage area keep showing up...way above what I would think of as statistically normal:

A day or so before the Quake...look at the wire of quakes stronger than 2.5. This is a random group...on a random day but every few days it looks the same:

MAP 3.7 2010/01/09 22:45:12 18.092 -68.546 145.3 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION
MAP 2.9 2010/01/09 21:43:34 18.386 -64.346 0.2 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.9 2010/01/09 20:53:24 18.365 -66.335 110.2 PUERTO RICO
MAP 2.9 2010/01/09 16:01:38 18.858 -64.583 7.2 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 3.3 2010/01/09 14:19:18 44.152 -129.008 10.0 OFF THE COAST OF OREGON
MAP 2.9 2010/01/09 13:50:39 18.459 -67.131 95.9 PUERTO RICO
MAP 2.5 2010/01/09 12:41:12 37.479 -121.793 9.1 SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.0 2010/01/09 11:59:17 -9.100 157.625 35.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 2.5 2010/01/09 11:24:42 37.479 -121.792 8.9 SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 2010/01/09 11:09:30 52.121 -173.615 14.0 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.8 2010/01/09 10:10:18 61.619 -150.442 45.8 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.7 2010/01/09 09:00:28 -23.138 -66.352 216.7 JUJUY, ARGENTINA
MAP 4.7 2010/01/09 07:10:38 -9.139 157.947 36.6 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.4 2010/01/09 07:04:36 -9.150 157.645 35.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 2.6 2010/01/09 06:30:50 60.944 -138.281 1.7 SOUTHERN YUKON TERRITORY, CANADA
MAP 6.2 2010/01/09 05:51:30 -9.117 157.633 10.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 3.0 2010/01/09 05:34:34 51.210 -177.886 26.7 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.0 2010/01/09 04:00:51 12.100 142.047 63.9 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.7 2010/01/09 03:17:20 52.265 -174.385 61.3 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.3 2010/01/09 03:11:27 18.559 -66.095 110.9 PUERTO RICO REGION
3.1 2010/01/09 02:33:04 60.395 -147.775 7.9

Note how often Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and other areas come up.. you can watch this link below. I check it off and on.. I am a weather person but as most people into the weather...geology is our second love. The Earth and all of it's mysteries are always intriguing and dramatic... sometimes beautiful and glorious.. other times horrendous and tragic but never boring and always happening, ongoing like the water that flows and the clouds that pass over us throughout our day...our planet is a planet always in motion on the ground, below the ground and the atmosphere above it as it spins on it's axis in it's orbit around the sun.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.html

I don't want to post pictures as the pictures are everywhere now on TV and the Internet. CNN, DRUDGE... you know the drill if you are here you are an online person, you can find your own pictures.

This is not a time for pictures...this is a time for help, please help however you can and whenever you can in whatever way you can.

This Saturday Night...don't go out somewhere but stay in...take the money...send it to make a difference.

Here is a video from the amazingly creative Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean. Sadly, no one will be dancing tonight or any night soon in Haiti. If you prefer "old school" then there is a delightful video below that of Martha Jean Claude who died at 82 and whose amazing life and music is shown below in the second video.



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Merci... Besos Bobbi