Poverty with Broken Kneecaps

As Haiti enters yet another week of dealing with the chaos wrought upon its already impoverished streets by the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince early January 12, the damage is now showing its grim face. Efforts to bring the country out of poverty may have been set back "by many, many years," said Stephen Randall, a senior fellow at the Canadian International Council. Though seriously set back, the major efforts of multiple aid organizations will eventually be able to place Haiti back on track, though life will forever be changed for its people.

Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive set the confirmed death toll to 72,000 yesterday, though estimates of the damage range up to twice that number. As well as human life, the socio-economic infrastructure has suffered a fatal blow as well; with major looting and violence occurring on a widespread basis, the fractured police and military forces are unable to put a cap on the problems in the streets. Businesses and government are unable to recover from the disaster due to the widespread mayhem, and a sort of global anarchy has spread amongst the Haitian people. Unfortunately, the violence has lead to the death of several aid workers in the past week, and many injuries amongst the population.

With that said, Haiti still needs all the help it can receive. Both the Red Cross and UNICEF are still accepting donations via text, phone and through their websites, as well as other charitable foundations. For more information, refer to my last blog post for the links to all of these sites. Also, check out the upper right hand corner of my blog, where I have placed a Socialvibe link to help send medical supplied to Haiti. Simply do an activity (it's not an annoying poll or anything) and you can help for free!



With the readers help, Haiti may be able to overcome this disaster with the least amount of pain inflicted on innocent lives.

Haiti

The disaster in Haiti may be one of the biggest of this century; with an estimated 100,000 dead and nearly 40,000 more victims trapped, aid cannot be put off any farther. Many countries have begun to lend a hand in the effort, with hundreds of smaller organizations pitching in to provide both food and medical supplied to those in need. With one of Haiti's main hospitals crumbled, doctors local and foreign struggle to provide much needed medical care to many families. Some suffer only minor cuts, while others have received completely severed appendages. Regardless of the injury, the Haitian people need the help of anyone who can lend a hand.



Several non-profits, such as the Red Cross, have set up text donation services, allowing cellular subscribers to donate to the relief fund and have the money deducted directly from their monthly statement. Both UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders have set up pages to accept donations as well.

Though many websites have been established to collect funds for Haiti, it is an unfortunate part of our society today that several are merely scams. The Daily Beast has done quite a good job of sorting through many of these scam sites, leaving many very legitimate charities to choose from.

Hopefully this information has cleared any donation questions up, however any readers can feel free to contact me or any of the websites listed above.