7.0 Earthquake Strikes Haiti

[Jdarg]

[FONT=&quot]"Cash is best Donation" article

[/FONT]London, England (CNN) -- Earthquake-devastated Haitians need donations of cash -- not clothes, food, medicine, or other relief supplies, as well intended as they might be, aid groups said Thursday.
Such "in-kind" donations can at best take up valuable space in cargo shipments and waste aid workers' time in sorting through the items, charities said. At worst, the food or medicine could be unusable or even dangerous.
"Sending donated goods oversees is an appealing idea because it makes you feel like you're really helping while at the same time recycling things that are no longer of any use to you," writes former aid worker Saundra Schimmelpfennig in her blog about the impact of aid. "Unfortunately inappropriate donations can do more harm than good and it often costs more to ship used goods than to buy new goods locally."

[FONT=&quot]More here:

Cash is best donation after disaster, aid groups say - CNN.com[/FONT]

 

[Jdarg]

Mrs. Arkiehawg- have you heard anything from Mr. Arkiehawg?

 

[sunspotbaby]

One of my fb friends posted this interactive video from cnn. pretty cool feature that gives a street level 360 view while the truck is rolling.

Haiti earthquake: 360° video

 

[GoodWitch58]

Haiti: past and future

Danny Pietrodangelo: Haiti has a chance for real change | tallahassee.com | Tallahassee Democrat

My friend, Danny, has done wonderful work in the Caribbean and especially Haiti...thought some of you might appreciate/be interested in, his perspective.

 

[scooterbug44]

Wow! The telethon has raised 57 Million so far! And that doesn't count the itunes money!

 

[Lynnie]

Wow! The telethon has raised 57 Million so far! And that doesn't count the itunes money!

a lot of good! Has anyone heard from archiwhawg? (sp?)

 

[Jdarg]

Just in from my friend--

[FONT=&quot]Thanks for writing and your concern. Ingrid and I are doing well, and living safely under the protections of thousands of Marines and the 82nd Airborne. Now rescue efforts are changing to recovery, with little hope for finding additional living victims. Many friends and coworkers still unaccounted for, and we fear the worst. The odor permeating the city signals that conclusion.

Visited the site of the Montana hotel Saturday with the parents of the Lynn University students who died there. Formerly the nicest hotel in Haiti, now its five stories are collapsed into a pile of concrete slabs 10 feet high. Not many survived. I could write pages of stories about victims and survivors, but not enough time.

Roads are slowly becoming cleared. Aid is beginning to reach the more remote neighborhoods. Injured victims still being brought in, but the number of injured now exceeds the number of hospital beds, including those on ships offshore. The people are still very calm, with only isolated incidents of violence and looting. Nice thing about living is such a poor country, is that it's not that difficult to get back to the way it was, economically.

The front of the embassy is clogged with thousands of Americans waiting and begging for evacuation. Heart rending. We're handling more than a thousand a day, but it's still not fast enough, even with dozens of creole speaking consular officers brought in from around the world. This will be the largest evacuation of US citizens in history (Lebanon was only abuot 10,000 and we've reached 11,000 already.)

Found an orphaned 7-year-old Haitian boy at the airport Saturday while I was escorting a visiting congressman and the Lynn University parents. The kid's parents were killed. Brought him back to the embassy and, with the help of colleagues, got him placed in an orphanage in the middle of the night. An American working here, and her husband, are adopting him. Some good news, thankfully.

The embassy is still a hectic madhouse of people working and sleeping in every available nook and cranny, most carrying guns and wearing uniforms. Wires are strung everywhere with US military mobile computers and other equipment set up even in the stairwells. Every grassy area is covered with tents and sleeping soldiers, medical and SAR personnel. Helicopters landing every few minutes in the LZ beside the embassy; jets landing and taking off constantly from the nearby airport, like a war zone.

Still living on MREs and craving fresh fruits and veggies. Not many to be found. Working 14-16 hours a day, which acutally helps to keep one from thinking about the reality of it all. Not sure how I'll react when I'm finally in some safe, quiet and serene place away from this nightmare -- probably post traumatic stress. Thankfully, Ingrid and I are together, which helps a lot.

All I have time to say for now. Back to work. Miss you and love you all,

Gary

[/FONT]

 

[GoodWitch58]

thanks for posting, J. Is there anything that we can do for them specifically

 

[Jdarg]

thanks for posting, J. Is there anything that we can do for them specifically

I have asked, but I don't think he even knows. Going to ask again, but here's the problem- actually getting anything into a specific person's hands.

 

[GoodWitch58]

I understand...it is so difficult, let me know though if anything changes.