HAITI EARTHQUAKE APPEAL

Posted by Admin on 17 January 2010, 12:00 am

Dear Friends

We have all been moved and challenged by the images and stories following the earthquake in Haiti. Our Christian Aid staff on the ground tell us that the survivors sit in the dust and rubble wondering where help might come from, and how much more suffering they can take. The population had barely begun to recover from the hurricanes that took so many lives and livelihoods and now this …

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas with 70% of the population having no formal job, land or tools to survive. Christian Aid supports livelihood projects to help people feed themselves and their families and also prepare for disasters before they strike – Haiti’s rapid deforestation has helped to increase the severity of the country’s frequent hurricanes.

The earthquake, measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale, has devastated Haiti, leaving thousands dead and many more buried alive. The quake struck 15km southwest of the capital Port-au-Prince. The Christian Aid office building collapsed and our staff had to be rescued from the rubble. They are shaken but safe and are now working tirelessly to help those still trapped, injured and left homeless.

In the area in which the Christian Aid offices once stood 97% of the buildings have been completely destroyed. The need for water, food, and body bags for the many corpses littering the streets is very urgent indeed.

I am calling all the churches, community groups, schools, businesses and individuals across the Isle of Wight to join us in putting words into action and to give as generously as we can to help those left with nothing. We have the capacity to create a wave of compassion across the region. We have done it before, we can do it again.

Your support is desperately needed to provide relief and reconstruction on the ground. Christian Aid has already released £100,000 and we will send more as soon as we can. We hope to raise £1 million for this vital work.

There are many ways in which we can all help to bring hope and healing to the people of Haiti in the wake of this disaster:

Please donate to our Haiti Earthquake Appeal online by clicking here:

HAITI EARTHQUAKE APPEAL

or by calling 08080 004 004 (9am-8pm).

Please consider holding a collection in your church, school, office or local community. You can order emergency envelopes from Christian Aid by calling 08700 787788 or by e-mailing orders@christian-aid.org

Please consider organising a spontaneous event / concert / busk / meal to raise money for this urgent appeal or donate the takings from an existing event.

Please visit our website www.christianaid.org.uk for more information and add this link to your website http://www.christianaid.org.uk/emergencies/current/haiti-earthquake-appeal/index.aspx – you will find posters, prayers and a magazine article here to download, print off and publish.

Christian Aid was born out of just such a response to the devastation in Europe at the end of war over sixty years ago. Let’s draw on that same ecumenical spirit to demonstrate our love and prayer in action for our devastated sisters and brothers in Haiti.

Susan Barry
South West Initiatives Coordinator
Christian Aid.