Taking a break from “connecting the fun to the fun people” for a brief moment to talk about Haiti. Below is a note from Susan Finucane from the global relief agency, Concern Worldwide:
It was with horror that I watched reports of a major earthquake in Haiti yesterday – the worst in two centuries. Measuring 7.0, the epicenter was only 10 miles from the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. UN sources have already reported significant loss of life and dire conditions in this country where I lived and worked for two years.
We urgently need your help — please donate today. I will be traveling tomorrow morning to join our staff on the ground to assist with relief efforts — but the devastation is great. We need your support to help so many thousands.
The immediate critical needs are water, food, shelter and medicine. Our first response will be a search and rescue effort, much of which will be carried out by local residents along with Concern’s staff and partners on the ground. We will provide items for temporary shelter — emergency kits, plastic sheeting and longer-term housing needs.
Last night many people slept outside in fear of more aftershocks. With no electricity, those still buried under debris could only be rescued with flashlights. Downed telephone lines are severely hampering the rescue effort.
Concern has been active in emergency, relief, development and disaster prevention work in Haiti since 1994, following Hurricane Gordon, and are well placed to respond to this crisis.
Again, thousands of lives have already been lost, and we need your support to carry out a full scale emergency response to help the survivors. Please donate as much as you can or visit ConcernUSA.org.
Thank You,
Susan Finucane
Concern Worldwide
104 E. 40th St., Suite 903
New York, NY 10016
