Haiti Relief Efforts Picking Up Steam
By Molly Morris — January 15, 2010
A number of local efforts by governmental and non-governmental organizations, including a private airlift, are under way to supply aid to devastated Haiti.
On Friday afternoon Delegate Donna M. Christensen received welcome news. “Today, military and medical assistance to Haiti will accelerate as the Haitian government has given the U.S. landing rights to the airport of the earthquake-stricken island nation,” she said in a statement.
Until this announcement, airborne aid to the country was strictly limited due to the massive international response to the disaster.
Christensen said, “We were advised by the State Department this morning that a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Haitian government giving the U.S. pre-clearance for up to 90 flights a day, dramatically speeding up the arrival of food, water, tents and tarps provided by the military and other U.S. departments providing relief.”
Christensen said, “The Department of Defense has several units there, or en route, including the 82nd Airborne which came to assist the Virgin Islands after Hurricane Hugo. Security for Haiti will still be provided by the United Nations, with the U.S. military in a supportive role.”
She said, “The Department of Health and Human Services will provide medical teams of doctors, nurses, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, emergency medical and surgical physicians, and other medical personnel from across the country.”Christensen added that an international surgical team will provide care for severely injured patients and five Disaster Medical Assistance Teams will provide basic medical care. Some 22,000 pounds of medical equipment and supplies are also on the way, she said.
“There are also teams ready to render mortuary and forensic expertise and assistance, Christensen said. “The Pan American Health Organization will set up field hospitals at stadiums and schools in Port-au-Prince.”
At home, Christensen said Dr. Marlon Williams will be assisting her office with coordination of local relief efforts. He can be contacted at 778-5900.
Christensen said her staff will handle calls on how to search for missing people, how to deal with immigration and other visa issues. She emphasized, as have other organizations, the quickest and most effective way to immediately help Haiti is through a monetary donation to the International Red Cross by calling 1-800-REDCROSS or going online to www.redcross.org. Those donating by check should indicate “Haiti Relief” on the memo line.
“The immediate need is for funds to assist those who are already on the ground who have the capacity to utilize the funding where it is most needed,” Christensen said.
Those trying to contact friends or relatives should call the U.S. State Department at 1-888-407-4747 or 202-647-5225 or online at www.icrc.org/familylinks. For a quick $10 donation, those with cell phones can text HAITI to 90999, and it will be charged to your account.
Local resident Carmen Partridge has organized a medical mission due to fly to Haiti by noon Saturday with medical personnel and supplies. A link is provided below.
Diageo, the world’s leading spirits, beer and wine company, is delivering more than 45,000 pounds of food and emergency supplies to earthquake victims in Haiti Friday. The company’s specially commissioned 727 aircraft departed Miami Friday morning, according to a Friday release from the company, which is building its Captain Morgan’s rum distillery on St. Croix.
This mission is part of Diageo’s Spirit of the Americas Humanitarian Aid program, an ongoing effort to deliver critical assistance to disaster zones and communities where Diageo’s employees and their families work and live. Diageo holds a minority stake in Brasserie Nationale d’Haiti S.A., a brewery in Port-au-Prince, which had employed more than 1,300.
The relief includes new World Health Organization (WHO) sanctioned emergency health kits. The health kits contain enough materials to provide basic medical care to more than 10,000 people for 90 days, which will be critical as every hospital in Haiti was either damaged or destroyed by the earthquake, according to the release.
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