Charitable Giving Update: Haiti
One year after the 7.3 magnitude earthquake disaster struck Haiti, destroying vast portions of Port-au-Prince and other portions of the island nation the International Red Cross agencies have issued reports on the efforts to provide food, water, shelter and disaster relief. Through charitable giving, donations from around the world have been used to aid the earthquake victims and the efforts continue.
[Jan. 6]
In addition to the support by green celebrities like Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Robert Pattinson or Angelina Jolie who provided monetary donations, hosting or answering telephones for a telethon or making an occasional visit. Super-star green celebrity Sean Penn has spent the majority of this past year working to assist the relief effort in Haiti.
The real heroes of the disaster relief for Haiti’s earthquake victims are everyday people who sent checks, did collections or texted Haiti to send just ten dollars at a time. All these donations to organizations such as the Red Cross have been working hard to provide food, shelter, clean water and a slow but true return to life.
On this the first year anniversary of the 7.3 magnitude earthquake and aftershocks which destroyed vast portions of Haiti the IFRC released their analysis of the first year of support provided and set their future goals to meet.
This morning a report was released detailing some of the support to the citizens of Haiti provided by the Red Cross Red Crescent (Haitian Red Cross), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and 124 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
In the first year of a multi-year response the IFRC provided:
– More than 172,000 families with emergency shelter materials such as tarpaulins, tents, wood, tools and ropes.
– Almost 160,000 families with other types of relief items (for example: kitchen sets, hygiene kits, blankets and jerry cans) – More than 195,000 families with food aid in the initial weeks of the response
– Almost 216,000 people with medical treatment at emergency health care facilities, with a further 288,000 people reached by community-based health services
– An average of 317,000 people with daily, around the clock access to clean water, as well as 265,000 people with improved sanitation such as latrines.
– Almost 49,000 families with some type of financial support such as a livelihoods support loan or grant, and a further 45,000 people with access to short-term employment opportunities.
– More than 1.2 million people across Haiti with crucial health, disaster preparedness and cholera related SMS. The successful outreach is the result of a first-of-its kind text messaging application developed for the Red Cross in partnership with Voila, a leading wireless provider in Haiti, and its parent company, Trilogy International Partners.__ from the IFRC report
The report also details some of the long term goals and significant challenges impacting the recovery. Despite all the assistance provided by IFRC and other relief agencies it is estimated that nearly one million people are still living in the camps constructed as temporary shelters. The efforts to build more permanent shelters has been hindered by the countries complex and infromal system of land tenure, it is hard to determine who actually owns the lands sought for constructing the shelters.
In spite of the land ownership issues there is progress being made toward the goals of loner-term shelter solutions. According to a governing agency, the Shelter Cluster, as of December 16 aid societies had built more than 31,000 transitional shelters across Haiti, more than 3,100 families have been provided safe shelter by the Red Cross Red Crescent as of November.
An emphasis of the report is placed on rebuilding and supporting Haitian institutions, the Red Cross Red Crescent is working to build, renovate, or restructure 25 schools and 22 medical facilities.
There is still a great deal of work to be perfromed: the IFRC and the Red Cross Red Crescent have their eyes on the goals already set, are open to new goals and still seeking financial assistance.
To see the report on the efforts in Haiti from the American Red Cross visit their page on the Earthquake in Haiti.
To donate to the efforts of the American Red Cross in Haiti or for other emergency responses visit their website at American Red Cross by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS. Donors can designate their gifts to Haiti relief. You can also donate $10 to Haiti relief by texting “HAITI” to 90999.
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