Help Haiti

HOLY CRAP. I’m starting to get overwhelmed with all this Haiti business. It is unbelievably devastating. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the poorest country in the Western hemisphere was rocked by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake on Tuesday. Haiti’s infrastructure and government were already ill-equipped to handle a significant challenge; now the nation is trying to cope with a disaster of epic proportions.

International response was quick. The US and its allies all pledged their support along with many other countries around the world. Aid groups were mobilized and ready to handle the dead, treat the wounded and provide shelter, food and water. The people of America have also been generous, raising money through social networking websites and donating to charitable organizations. Still, the process of helping the victims has proven to be a logistical nightmare.

With nearly all of the poorly constructed buildings in the capital of Port-au-Prince collapsed, rubble is everywhere – hiding bodies and rendering hundreds of thousands homeless. With the shipping and receiving ports in ruin, with the airports clogged with cargo planes and with nearly all the roads impassable, the distribution of aid has been painfully slow.

Dead bodies are piling up (the toll is conservatively estimated to be around 50,000). Many are still trapped in the wreckage. Human waste is everywhere. Injuries are going untreated, infection spreading. People who haven’t slept in days are thirsty and hungry. How long will it be before aid can reach the people who need it? How long will it be before animal instinct takes over and chaos reigns?

The fact that President Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, has taken a lead role in the relief effort is heartening. It’s like Jules Winnfield’s line in Pulp Fiction when Marsellus Wallace tells him The Wolf is on the way: “Shit, negro – that’s all you had to say!”Still, the cleanup and rebuilding will be protracted and laborious. It will take years for things to return to normal, which admittedly weren’t that great to begin with. The whole thing is just so unfortunate and dismaying.

The most immediate thing we can do to help is to give. In addition to the major aid agencies, local organizations that can help are in need. Many employers will match your donation or sponsor a fundraiser. A little goes a long way.

http://www.mercycorps.org/
http://www.redcross.org/
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/