Crisis in Haiti
On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake (with many powerful aftershocks) struck Haiti, 10 miles outside of the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Officials estimate that tens of thousands of people are dead and millions of people are hurt or missing. The Black Youth Project is closely following the US and international response. Please donate what you can to the relief effort and check back with us for updates.
Donate to the Relief Effort
This is a list of organizations that are already on the ground in Haiti providing relief. For a more expansive list of organizations accepting donations, visit www.cnn.com/impact.
American Red Cross- Yéle Haiti
- UNICEF USA
- Save the Children
- Care USA
- World Vision
- Doctors Without Borders
- Partners in Health
- Mercy Corps
- World Food Programme
Follow the News in Haiti
American flight reopens Haiti commercial air links
Reuters | February 19, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 19 (Reuters) – American Airlines on Friday flew the first commercial passenger flight into Haiti since the Jan. 12 earthquake, reopening major commercial airline links with the quake-hit Caribbean country.
Flight AA 377 from Miami, a Boeing 737 carrying 136 passengers, touched down at Toussaint L’Ouverture airport in Port-au-Prince and taxied up to the terminal, which was damaged in the quake but has been operating with the help of U.S. military engineers and air force controllers. Read more
Haiti Holds Day of Mourning for Earthquake Victims
BBC | February 12, 2010
At least 217,000 people died in the 12 January quake, which left 300,000 injured and one million homeless.
A prayer service was also held at the site of a mass grave outside the capital which is believed to hold tens of thousands of victims.
Later, at the exact time the earthquake hit, Haitians at home and abroad will be asked to kneel and pray. Read more
Haiti, Now and Next
Social Science Research Council
In response to the recent devastation and tragedy in Haiti it is easy to lose sight of issues that loom only slightly over the horizon. With this web forum we are trying to bring these into view. Click here to browse the essay forum.
Reprieve for Haitians Illegally in the U.S.
ABC News | February 5, 2010
US Missionaries Charged with Kidnapping
CNN | February 4, 2010
Man Pulled Alive From Haiti Rubble 14 Days After Quake
Fox News | January 27, 2010
A crowd of Haitian looters called for help from U.S. soldiers on Tuesday after finding a man buried in the rubble of a building that had been repeatedly scavenged since the devastating earthquake in Port-au-Prince two weeks ago.
A witness told Reuters the man, covered in dust and wearing only underwear, was rescued by soldiers from the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division at a ruined building on Rue de Miracle in downtown Port-au-Prince. Read more
US Haiti Quake Aid: $1 From Everyone in America
Associated Press (via abcnews.com) | January 27, 2010
An Associated Press review of U.S. government earthquake relief spending shows only 1 cent of each U.S. tax dollar spent on quake relief is going in the form of cash to the Haitian government.
Less than two weeks after President Obama announced an initial $100 million for Haiti earthquake relief, U.S. government spending on the disaster has tripled to $317 million at latest count. That’s just over $1 each from everyone in the United States. Read more
Haiti earthquake reignites debate over fast-tracking adoptions
Christian Science Monitor | January 25, 2010
Port-au-Prince, Haiti–The children lined up on low wooden benches at the House of God’s Children orphanage form a typical Sunday School scene: The boys poke each other and laugh, the girls whisper or wait quietly.
Then a young woman whose head nearly reaches the plastic tarp shading the children sets down the Bible she carries in one hand and says it’s time for the opening hymn. “Our great God blesses us,” the small voices sing in unison, “His immense charity will last through eternity.” Read more
Tired of stench, Haitians torch bodies in plaza
CNN | January 25, 2010
Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) — The scene was horrific, the stench unmistakable. Sadly, it was nothing new here. But because it unfolded so many days after the earthquake that took at least 112,000 lives, it was shocking. Read more
Haiti earthquake: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to attend UN summit to plan long-term aid
New York Daily News | January 25, 2010
Twenty nations will meet in Montreal Monday for an emergency summit to coordinate aid for quake-struck Haiti.
Secretary of State Clinton will attend the United Nations conference called to map out a long-term strategy for the impoverished nation. Read more
(Video) Rescued Boy Flashes Mile-Wide Smile
CNN | January 22, 2010
A 7-year-old boy in Haiti was reluctant to emerge from the rubble in which he had been trapped for more than a week. Finally coaxed out by rescuers and a relative, the child flashed a smile that could melt even the hardest heart.
Haiti earthquake: Why the Caribbean is a mini ring of fire
Christian Science Monitor | January 21, 2010
Boston - Last week’s devastating earthquake in Haiti and yesterday’s magnitude 5.9 aftershock (downgraded by the US Geological Survey after an initial report estimated it at 6.1) serve as tragic reminders that as idyllic as many spots in the Caribbean Sea may seem, they can periodically be dangerous too. Read more
Hugo Chavez Mouthpiece Says U.S. Hit Haiti With ‘Earthquake Weapon’
Fox News | January 21, 2010
The United States apparently possesses an “earthquake weapon” that set off the catastrophic quake in Haiti and killed 200,000 innocents. Don’t believe it’s true? Just ask Hugo Chavez. Read more
Repairing Haitian Radio
Columbia Journalism Review | January 19, 2010
With radio and television news outlets crippled by the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti last week, Internews, an international media development organization, announced Wednesday that it was sending a team to the impoverished island nation to help get broadcasters back up and running. The team began to arrive on Friday, and over the weekend I sent a list of questions to Jeanne Bourgault, Chief Operating Officer of Internews, asking about the group’s progress. Communications with the team have been more sporadic than anticipated, but Bourgault offered her assessment of the situation as of Sunday evening. Read more
As Haitians Flee, the Dead Go Uncounted
New York Times | January 18, 2010
TITANYEN, Haiti — A few miles north of the busted-down buildings in Port-au-Prince, up a hillside where cows graze, an empty hole awaits the dead. Rectangular, 20 feet deep and wide, 100 feet long, it is one of the newest mass graves, but there are many more.
The government’s dump trucks have been dropping off bodies here since Friday. No one counts, takes pictures or searches for names. In some places, legs and arms of strangers are knotted together in a frozen dance, but here the ground has been leveled by a backhoe that has erased all but the tiniest scraps of life. Read more
Wyclef Jean Calls for Evacuating Haiti Capital
ABC News.com | January 18, 2010
Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean defended his charity on Monday in the wake of questions about its practices while calling on the international community to enable the evacuation of his homeland’s earthquake-ravaged capital. Read more
Secretary Napolitano Announces Humanitarian Parole Policy for Certain Haitian Orphans Fact Sheet
US Citizenship and Immigration Services | January 18, 2010
On Jan. 18, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano, in coordination with the U.S. Department of State (DOS), today announced a humanitarian parole policy allowing orphaned children from Haiti to enter the United States temporarily on an individual basis to ensure that they receive the care they need—as part of the U.S. government’s ongoing support of international recovery efforts after last week’s earthquake.
DHS and DOS are working together to issue travel documents (either immigrant visas or humanitarian parole authorizations) for children who fall into the two categories described below. Once these children are cleared to travel, the U.S. Embassy in Port au Prince will facilitate their evacuation to the United States so they may be united with their American adoptive parents. Read more
US military begins massive aid effort in Haiti
Associated Press (via Houston Chronicle) | January 15, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The U.S. military has distributed its first aid in the massive effort to help quake-ravaged Haiti.
A rapid response unit from the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division has handed out food, water and medical supplies to Haitians outside the main airport in the capital of Port-au-Prince.
The unit’s commander, Capt. Mike Anderson, says: “We’re here to do as much good and as little evil as we can.” Read more
‘Everything is Breaking Down’ in Haiti
Kevin Whitelaw, NPR | January 15, 2010
Haitians were growing increasingly desperate Friday in the stricken capital of Port-au-Prince as aid supplies remain scarce and bodies still litter the streets.
“Haiti is dead, is dead, is dead, is dead, is dead. Everything is breaking down,” Philippe Mercier told NPR’s Greg Allen. “It’s like somebody who lives in the street, you know? Eat on the street, drink water on the street. There’s no pure water.” Read more
Social Networks, texts boost fundraising
CNN | January 14, 2010
(CNN) — A day-old fundraising campaign done solely through text messages and made viral on networking sites like Twitter and Facebook has raised more than $5 million for the Red Cross’s relief work in Haiti. Read more
Haiti earthquake: The nations that are stepping up to help
Christian Science Monitor | January 14, 2010
Boston–In the aftermath the Haiti earthquake, which Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive is describing as “the worst catastrophe that has occurred in Haiti in two centuries,” the international community is mobilizing to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, manpower, and supplies to the poor Caribbean nation. Read more
Obama to Pen Cover Story on Haiti and the Earthquake for Newsweek
Wall Street Journal Blog | January 14, 2010
Like at a lot of publications, Newsweek was forced to start its week over when the earthquake hit Haiti.
Give the magazine credit for an artful recovery. The Washington Post Co.-owned publication has tapped President Barack Obama to pen a cover story on Haiti for the Jan. 25 issue hitting newsstands on Monday. Read more
Aid workers in Haiti face ‘logistical nightmare’
Associated Press (via NPR.com) | January 14, 2010
Roads full of hungry, homeless people. An estimated 50,000 dead. A ruined port and an overwhelmed airport. Hundreds of crumpled buildings and little heavy machinery. Few working phones.
Relief supplies and emergency experts started pouring into Haiti from around the world Thursday, but aid groups said the challenge of helping Haiti’s desperate quake survivors was enormous. Read more
How to Help the Haiti Earthquake Relief, Avoid Scams
ABC Good Morning America | January 14, 2010
Elisabeth Leamy makes recommendations about donating to humanitarian organizations.
Radio: Foreign Rescue Teams Waste No Time in Haiti
A massive rescue effort is underway in Haiti following Tuesday’s earthquake. Thousands of people are injured and are waiting to be attended to. An emergency medical team from the University of Miami go to work the minute they landed in Port-au-Prince.
The President on Haiti: “The First Waves of our Rescue and Relief Workers are on the Ground and at Work”
WhiteHouse.gov | January 14, 2010
This morning the President gave another update on relief efforts in Haiti, promising the people of Haiti that “you will not be forsaken; you will not be forgotten.”
Powell: Haiti Needs Long-Term Commitment
MSNBC.com | January 14, 2010
Red Cross: Quake May Have Killed 50,000
MSNBC.com | January 14, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The death toll from Haiti’s earthquake could be between 45,000 and 50,000, with a further three million people hurt or homeless, a senior Haitian Red Cross official said on Thursday. Read more
White House Adviser Valerie Jarrett ‘Speechless’ Over Pat Robertson’s Haiti Comment
ABC Good Morning America | January 14, 2010
The earthquake in Haiti is a tragedy of such gargantuan proportion that it’s natural to wonder how — or why — any God, if there is a God, could allow it.
Enter the Rev. Pat Robertson, who always seems to have a ready answer for the unanswerable. ”You know … something happened a long time ago in Haiti. … They got together and swore a pact to the Devil,” Robertson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network’s “700 Club” Wednesday. Read more
Radio: Haiti Quake Tests U.S. Medical Relief Efforts
NPR | January 13, 2010
Video: Presidents’s Remarks on US Aid to Haiti
WhiteHouse.gov | January 13, 2010
Video: Digging Through the Rubble: Haitians Hunt for Signs of Life
PBS NewsHour | January 13, 2010
- Watch here
Video: Haiti Earthquake Victim: “It’s a Disaster”
CBS News.com | January 13, 2010
In a Skype interview from Haiti, radio show hose, Carel Pedrel speaks about the aftermath of the 7.0 earthquake that struck near the capital.
____________________________________________________________
Looking for Loved Ones in Haiti?
For missing U.S. citizen family members, call 1-888-407-4747 or click here to provide information to the U.S. State Department via email.
____________________________________________________________