Haiti relief effort picks up momentum

Di-Ve
by Vanessa Macdonald - editorial@di-ve.com
Current Affairs -- 15 January 2010 -- 16:10CEST

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Aid is pouring into Haiti, with several airlines offering flights and agencies mobilising their resources, but with the death toll still rising after Tuesday’s earthquake, there is much left to be done.
An earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale struck Haiti on Tuesday January 13, 2010. It hit the capital Port-au-Prince and other areas of the country and tens of thousands are dead with many more missing and hundreds of thousand homeless.

The UN is sending disaster relief while the World Health Organization is coordinating medical assistance and sending a 12-member team specialising in victim care, while NGOs such as Medecins sans Frontiers are scaling up their efforts on the ground as quickly as possible.

The World Food Programme has begun distributions of emergency food rations that were already in country, and is moving another 86 metric tons of high-energy biscuits from El Salvador. UNICEF has flown in water purification supplies and shelter materials.

In Malta, a number of funds have been opened (see below) while the Civil Protection Department is collecting blankets, canned food and drinking water for the victims of the earthquake as well as for the torrential floods that hit Albania last week.

The collection will take place at the Humanitarian Aid Section of the Civil Protection Department at Shipwrights Wharf Marsa (behind Marsovin Ltd.) and the CPD Fire Station at the Heliport in Gozo on Saturday and Sunday between 0900h and 1600h.

Monetary donations may also be made at Bank of Valletta, account number 40018758443 and HSBC on account 078-002391-050.

The Salesians of Don Bosco are urging people to donate money to HSBC account 085111 995050 Salesians: Emergency Haiti, or to Fr Eric Cachia, Salesian Oratory. 20 Triq Karm Galea, Sliema. The Salesians run 11 schools in Haiti, of which more than half were destroyed. 2 Salesians were killed; one other was buried along with 200 children, none of whom have yet been recovered. 50 others are missing, with no news of their whereabouts.

Red Cross volunteers in Haiti are currently assisting the injured and supporting hospitals which do not have enough capacity to deal with this emergency. The Red Cross Red Crescent has pre-positioned relief supplies for 3,000 families in Haiti. In Port-au-Prince there are enough pre-positioned supplies for 500 families, including kitchen kits, personal hygiene kits, blankets and containers for storing drinking water.

The Malta Red Cross is also raising funds. Donations can be made at 104, Saint Ursula Street, Valletta, or at the Gozo Branch, Mgarr Road, Xewkija (entrance opposite the post office). Alternatively, donations may be made directly at Bank of Valletta in account number 10206374012.

Donations to SOS Malta’s campaign can be deposited on the following bank accounts: APS a/c 20000245111, HSBC a/c 006070932050 006070932050 and BOV a/c 40013974950.

Cheque donations can also be sent by post to SOS Malta, 9, Camilleri Court, Testaferrata Street, Ta’ Xbiex XBX 1407 or online through www.sosmalta.org/donate_now.

Donations to Caritas Malta may be passed on to all Maltese and Gozitan Parish priests or sent directly to Caritas by cheque payable to ‘Caritas Haiti Fund’, to the following address: Caritas Malta, 5, Triq l-Iljun, Floriana FRN 1514. The donations may also be deposited in the following bank account numbers: APS - 20000887495, Bank of Valletta 40018761294 or HSBC – 089021513051