How to help the Haitian people and relief effort

The human and physical damage caused by the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti yesterday looks to be absolutely devastating. By some accounts the entire capital of Port-Au-Prince is leveled. The presidential palace and UN mission headquarters are gone. The prime minister believes the death-toll has already surpassed 100,000, while a leading senator says the final number could be over 500,000. The problem in a country like Haiti, as they both acknowledged, is that we may never really know. The tsunami in 2004 was a level of natural destruction we had never seen in modern times, and judging by the early indications this earthquake could surpass it in a much more concentrated area.

For any of our readers in the United States who are wondering how they can assist the relief effort, I have found two prominent and active organizations moving provide immediate relief to Haiti: the American Red Cross' International Response Fund, which is pledging an immediate effort of at least $200,000, and UNICEF's US page, an organization that focuses on the most vulnerable in a crisis like this, the children.

I encourage everyone to look into how they can help the situation in Haiti, however small or remote that effort might be.

Correction: The American Red Cross has pledged an initial $1 million, far more than the $200,00 figure I found this morning. Also, if you are in the US and want to donate $10 to the Red Cross' Haiti effort, you can text message the word 'Haiti' to 90999. The donation will be reflected as a charge on your cell phone bill.