haiti part 1

It's hard to put into words how one feels about the situation in Haiti. It's hard to try and describe what is happening. We see the pictures and video on TV & news sites on the web. We hear the stories of pain & death & courage & survival & loss. The numbers boggle our minds. And it hits a little closer to home when you know people who are involved.

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake [earthquake details here] followed by almost 2 dozen 4.2 - 5.9 earthquakes since then, have absolutely devasted the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. cbc reports that:

[UN Secretary General ] Ban estimated 50 per cent of the buildings in the capital were damaged or destroyed and said a high proportion of the three million people in the area had no food, water, shelter or electricity.

Haitian Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime told Reuters:

We have already collected around 50,000 dead bodies... We anticipate there will be between 100,000 and 200,000 dead in total, although we will never know the exact number.

Haiti, was already the poorest country in the Americas and one of the poorest countries in the world [list]

Making matters worse, scammers are ripping people off.
My advice: Do not give to an organization unless you know it is a valid organization which was already operating in Haiti.They have the contacts, they know the country, the language, they have the infrastructure in place.

Organizations that I recommend include [this is not an exhautive list, simply a list of organizations which I trust and who have their feet on the ground]:
World Vision
Samaritan's Purse
Menonnite Central Committee

Remember as well, that the Canadian government is matching donations made by individual Canadians from January 12 to February 12, 2010.