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Article
Earthquake in Haiti: Update #43
Today the Red Cross committed $30 million to the World Food Programme, which will support their effort to feed two million people in Haiti over the next six months. Other Red Cross relief supplies continue to arrive, although significant bottlenecks remain. So far, more than 43 flights carrying Red Cross aid have arrived in Haiti. Additional planes, ships and trucks carrying Red Cross humanitarian assistance are en route. Approximately 3 million pre-packaged meals from the American Red Cross have left Miami via ship and will arrive later this week in Haiti. Shelter remains an urgent need on the ground. The Red Cross is working to provide a range of assistance, including relief items like family-sized tents and kits with tarps, ropes and tools to construct shelter. At the same time, we are assessing needs and developing a strategy to meet long-term housing reconstruction needs. As of today, the American Red Cross has spent or committed more than $67 million to meet the most urgent needs of earthquake survivors. During this emergency phase of the relief operation, the American Red Cross is focusing its resources on in several areas: Pre-packaged meals and funding for World Food Programme efforts Supplies and funding needed to provide clean drinking water Shelter items such as blankets, tarps, sleeping mats and tents Health needs of Haitian survivors as well as support to Haitian families in Haiti and the US. This includes providing relief supplies, shipment of blood products, family linking services and providing Red Cross volunteers to the USNS Comfort.
26 January 2010
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Article
Earthquake in Haiti: Photo Update
Please click through for caption and courtesy information. You may use these photos but please provide proper attribution. All American Red Cross photos from Haiti.
25 January 2010
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Article
Earthquake in Haiti: Update #42
The American Red Cross is in Haiti as a part of the broader and coordinated Red Cross and Red Crescent network. More than 430 Red Cross and Red Crescent workers from around the world are in Haiti supporting thousands of local volunteers. Of that, more than 100 are representing the American Red Cross (Includes the Creole interpreters on the USNS Comfort). Each Red Cross team has its own roles and expertise, and we’re all working together. That is a very powerful engine for relief. For example, Red Cross responders from eight countries are treating approximately 500 people each day at medical facilities throughout the capital city. An additional 100-bed Red Cross field hospital arrived this weekend and has been set up in the Carrefour soccer stadium. Others are focused on purifying the water supply available in country and are delivering clean drinking water to 400,000 people each day. So far, more than 2 million liters of water has been distributed. Local Haitian Red Cross volunteers are providing first aid support as well as emotional support for traumatized survivors. A special area has been established at each medical center where volunteers are comforting children, many of who are too young to even understand what happened. This is already the largest single-country relief operation in global Red Cross history. The number of emergency response teams in or en route to Haiti equals those that responded to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami – an emergency that spanned 14 countries.
25 January 2010
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Article
Earthquake in Haiti: Update #41
Relief supplies are arriving more frequently and in larger quantities, and, although some bottlenecks still remain, aid is reaching the survivors in the capital city and outlying areas. So far, more than 38 flights carrying Red Cross aid have arrived in Haiti. Additional planes, ships and trucks carrying Red Cross humanitarian assistance are expected every day. Shelter remains an urgent need on the ground. Together with relief partners like the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Red Cross is helping meet temporary shelter needs, whether in camps or in spontaneous settlements, and is working to provide support for host families sheltering the displaced. This immediate relief includes providing family-sized tents and kits with tarps, ropes and tools to construct shelter. At the same time, we are developing a strategy to meet long-term housing reconstruction needs. The American Red Cross and its partners are distributing other relief items – such as hygiene kits, blankets and water containers – for up to 1,000 families (6,000 people) each day. Approximately 3 million pre-packaged meals from the American Red Cross have left Miami via ship and will arrive later this week in Haiti, where we will partner with the UN’s World Food Programme to distribute them. On Friday, nearly 70 American Red Cross Creole-speaking volunteers joined the USNS Comfort offshore in Haiti. While aboard, they are serving as interpreters for patients receiving medical care from the U.S. military.
25 January 2010
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25 January 2010
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Article
Press Release: Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief
Beyoncé to Perform in London Madonna in New York City Haitian Artist Emeline Michel in Los Angeles Participants to include President Bill Clinton Ben Stiller Brad Pitt Chris Rock Clint Eastwood Denzel Washington Halle Berry Jon Stewart Julia Roberts Leonardo DiCaprio Matt Damon Meryl Streep Morgan Freeman Nicole Kidman Robert Pattinson Samuel L. Jackson Tom Hanks Will Smith with Muhammad Ali, and More Than One Hundred of the Biggest Names in Film, Television, and Music “Hope for Haiti Now” to Begin Accepting Donations via Online, Phone, Text and Mail at 12:00 p.m. ET/9:00 a.m. PT on Friday, January 22 Music Performances Available for Pre-Order Exclusively on iTunes NEW YORK, NY; LOS ANGELES, CA; and LONDON, ENGLAND (JANUARY 21, 2010) – “Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief,” today announced the addition of new musical artists and celebrity participants to its lineup. “Hope for Haiti Now” will air on Friday, January 22, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and 7:00 p.m. CT Newly added performers Beyoncé in London, Madonna in New York City, and Haitian artist Emeline Michel in Los Angeles will join the previously announced lineup: Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, and Sting in New York City; Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift and a group performance by Keith Urban, Kid Rock, and Sheryl Crow in Los Angeles; and Coldplay, and a group performance by Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z, and Rihanna in London. In addition to musical performances, Wyclef Jean in New York City, George Clooney in Los Angeles, and CNN’s Anderson Cooper reporting from Haiti, “Hope for Haiti Now” will feature President Bill Clinton, Ben Stiller, Brad Pitt, Chris Rock, Clint Eastwood, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jon Stewart, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Nicole Kidman, Robert Pattinson, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hanks, Will Smith with Muhammad Ali, and more than one hundred of the biggest names in film, television, and music. “Hope for Haiti Now” will begin accepting donations at 12:00 p.m. ET/9:00 a.m. PT on Friday, January 22 via the following methods: Online: www.hopeforhaitinow.org Phone: 877-99-HAITI Text: Text “GIVE” to 50555 Mail: Hope For Haiti Now Fund, Entertainment Industry Foundation, 1201 West 5th Street, Suite T-700, Los Angeles, CA 90017 Music performances from “Hope for Haiti Now” will be available for purchase and download on the iTunes® Store. Beginning on Friday, iTunes customers will be able to exclusively pre-order both the “Hope for Haiti Now” full performance album ($7.99) and the full two-hour video telecast ($1.99). Pre-orders will be delivered in the days following the telethon. Individual audio performances will also be available for purchase and download for $.99 cents each in the days following the telethon. Apple, the record labels and the artists will donate their share of the proceeds to Haiti relief funds managed by “Hope for Haiti Now” charities. “Hope for Haiti Now” performances will also be available for purchase on AmazonMP3 and Rhapsody, with distribution provided by INgrooves. Proceeds from those purchases will also benefit Haiti relief funds managed by “Hope for Haiti Now” charities. “Hope for Haiti Now” will benefit Oxfam America, Partners in Health, the Red Cross, UNICEF, United Nations World Food Programme, Yele Haiti Foundation, and the newly formed Clinton Bush Haiti Foundation. Proceeds from “Hope for Haiti Now” will be split among each organization’s individual funds for Haiti earthquake relief. With the exception of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, each partner organization was selected for its history of operation and collaboration within the NGO community in Haiti. “Hope for Haiti Now” will air across ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1, CMT, PBS, TNT, Showtime, COMEDY CENTRAL, Bravo, E! Entertainment, National Geographic Channel, Oxygen, G4, CENTRIC, Current TV, Fuse, MLB Network, EPIX, Palladia, SoapNet, Style, Discovery Health, Planet Green, CNN en Español, HBO Latino, and Canadian networks including CBC Television, CTV, Global Television, and MuchMusic. The event will be live streamed online globally across sites including YouTube, Hulu, MySpace, Fancast, AOL, MSN.com, Yahoo, Bing.com, BET.com, CNN.com, MTV.com, VH1.com, and Rhapsody and on mobile via Alltel, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and FloTV. “Hope for Haiti Now” will also air internationally on BET International, CNN International, National Geographic, and MTV Networks International, which is available in 640 million homes worldwide. “Hope for Haiti Now” will be available non-exclusively to all terrestrial radio stations around the globe and SIRIUS XM Radio as a one time only radio broadcast via the MTV Radio Network and Westwood One. Based on production needs and venue sizes, all “Hope for Haiti Now” studio locations will be closed to the media. Photos, pool video footage and talent interviews from “Hope for Haiti Now” will be serviced to news outlets immediately following the event. “Hope for Haiti Now” is produced by Joel Gallen and Tenth Planet Productions, in collaboration with Viacom’s MTV Networks and George Clooney. About MTV Networks MTV Networks, a division of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world’s leading creators of entertainment content, with brands that engage and connect diverse audiences across television, online, mobile, games, virtual worlds and consumer products. The company’s portfolio spans more than 150 television channels and 400 digital media properties worldwide, and includes MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, Harmonix, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., TeenNick, AddictingGames, Neopets, COMEDY CENTRAL, SPIKE, TV Land, Atom, GameTrailers, and Xfire. Contacts: Carole Robinson 212.846.8760 carole.robinson@mtv.com Mark Jafar 212.846.8961 mark.jafar@mtvstaff.com For Anderson Cooper: Shimrit Sheetrit 310.788.6796 shimrit.sheetrit@turner.com For George Clooney: Stan Rosenfield 310.407.3444 stan@sra-pr.com ###
22 January 2010
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Article
Earthquake in Haiti: Update #40
The American Red Cross is in Haiti as a part of the broader and coordinated Red Cross and Red Crescent network. More than 400 Red Cross and Red Crescent workers from at least 30 countries are in Haiti supporting thousands of local volunteers. Of that, more than 100 are representing the American Red Cross (Includes the Creole interpreters on the UNSN Comfort). This is already the largest single-country personnel deployment in global Red Cross history. The number of emergency response teams in or en route to Haiti equals those that responded to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami – an emergency that spanned 14 countries. Each Red Cross team has its own roles and expertise, and they are working together. That is a very powerful engine for relief. For example, Red Cross responders from eight countries are treating injuries and performing surgery at hospitals and medical centers throughout the capital city. Red Cross teams from Latin America and Asia, trained in urban search and rescue, are supporting local authorities. Others are focused on purifying the water supply available in the country and expect to deliver clean drinking water to 200,000 people (27 settlements) each day by truck. So far, more than 1 million liters of water has been distributed. Local Haitian Red Cross volunteers are providing emotional support for traumatized survivors and responders as well as first aid support. The ICRC family links Web site (www.icrc.org/familylinks), designed to help reconnect separated families, has received more than 24,000 registrations since the earthquake. Approximately 500 names have been removed from the site after families were successfully reconnected. The Red Cross has set up posts, helping 900 people make international phone calls to their families to say they are safe.
22 January 2010
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Article
Earthquake in Haiti: Update #39
Logistical bottlenecks remain, but American Red Cross volunteers on the ground say that “Haiti is coming back to life.” Red Cross leaders are working with the U.S. government to find ways to get much needed aid through the bottlenecks and into the hands of the Haitian people. Despite all of the logjams, supplies are slowly getting through. The pipeline to get resources into Haiti was a straw following the earthquake; it’s now a garden hose, but it needs it to become a fire hose. So far, more than 32 flights carrying Red Cross aid have arrived in Haiti. Additional planes and trucks carrying Red Cross humanitarian assistance are expected every day. Next week, approximately 3 million pre-packaged meals from the American Red Cross will arrive, and we will partner with the World Food Program to distribute them to the survivors. Shelter remains an urgent need on the ground. Together with relief partners like the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Red Cross is helping meet temporary shelter needs, whether in camps or in spontaneous settlements throughout the capital city, and is working to provide support for host families sheltering the displaced. This immediate relief includes providing family-sized tents and kits with tarps, ropes and tools to construct shelter. At the same time, we are developing a strategy to meet long-term housing reconstruction needs. While we still need to reach many more people, in two days (Wednesday and Thursday), the American Red Cross and our partners on the ground were able to provide 1,900 families (9,500 people) with basic supplies like tarps, hygiene kits, water purification tablets and blankets. On Friday, nearly 70 American Red Cross Creole-speaking volunteers joined the USNS Comfort offshore in Haiti. While aboard, they will serve as interpreters for patients receiving medical care from the U.S. military. The American Red Cross is also coordinating shipments of blood and blood products to Haiti at the request of the Pan American Health Organization.
22 January 2010
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Article
Earthquake in Haiti: Photos
Please click through for caption and courtesy information. You may use these photos but please provide proper attribution. All American Red Cross photos from Haiti.
22 January 2010
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Article
Earthquake in Haiti: What Your Donation Will Buy
Here’s an example of what your donations to the American Red Cross for Haiti relief will buy: $5 provides a water container to store clean drinking water $10 provides a blanket that is appropriate to the climate and culture of the disaster-affected area $25 provides a family of 5 with a kitchen set giving them the ability to cook and serve food (a disaster can destroy even the most basic family possessions and restoring family’s self-sufficiency is essential). This includes two cooking pots, a frying pan, bowls, plates, cups, and utensils. $30 provides essential hygiene materials to 5 people for one month (ensuring adequate hygiene after a disaster is essential in promoting the health of those affected). This includes items like a toothbrush and toothpaste, shampoo, body soap, laundry soap, toilet paper, sanitary pads, a razor and a towel. $60 provides tarps, rope, wood and tools for a family of five to build a temporary shelter. (2 tarps, rope, hoe, machete, tin snips, handsaw, roofing nails, shovel, long nails, tie wire, claw hammer) $100 provides a cooking set, hygiene pack, blankets, and water containers for one family of five following a disaster. $500 provides a family tent for a family of 5
22 January 2010
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Article
Earthquake in Haiti: Update #38
The American Red Cross is in Haiti as a part of the broader and coordinated Red Cross and Red Crescent network. * We all have our roles; we all have our expertise, and we’re all working together. That is a very powerful engine for relief. * For example, Red Cross responders from seven countries are treating injuries and performing surgery at hospitals and medical centers throughout the capital city. * Red Cross teams from Latin America and Asia, trained in urban search and rescue, are supporting local authorities. * Others are focused on purifying the water supply available in the country and expect to deliver clean drinking water to 200,000 people (17 settlements) each day by truck. * Local Haitian Red Cross volunteers are providing emotional support for traumatized survivors and providing first aid support. * The ICRC family links Web site (www.icrc.org/familylinks), designed to help reconnect separated families, has received 23,900 registrations since the earthquake. Yesterday (Wednesday), the Red Cross helped more than 340 people in Haiti make international phone calls to their families to say they are safe and well as well as register an additional 178 on the site.
21 January 2010
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Article
Earthquake in Haiti: Update #37
People in Haiti are still in need of basic items like food, water and medical care. It is frustrating for humanitarian organizations, like the American Red Cross, that also wish aid would arrive faster. * It is still difficult to get planes carrying humanitarian aid into the Port-au-Prince airport. The roads are heavily congested, and travel by road from the Dominican Republic has increased to an 18-hour journey. * We are working with the U.S. government to discuss how these issues can be alleviated, and we applaud the U.S. Armed Forces, which are on the ground and doing a great job. * Despite all of the logjams and bottlenecks, supplies are slowly getting through. The pipeline to get resources into Haiti was reduced to a straw following the earthquake; we have graduated to a garden hose, but really need it to become a fire hose. * So far, more than 100 tons of Red Cross aid has arrived in Haiti. Planes and trucks carrying Red Cross humanitarian assistance are arriving in the region every day. * Yesterday (Wednesday), the American Red Cross and our partners on the ground were able to provide 2,700 people with basic supplies like tarps, hygiene kits, water purification tablets and blankets. * As the pipeline to get to the people in Haiti widens, the American Red Cross will provide large tents for an initial 14,500 people and is working around the clock to find and send more. * The American Red Cross is also sending approximately 3 million pre-packaged meals to Haiti, and will partner with the World Food Program to distribute them to survivors over the weekend. * Today (Thursday), nearly 70 American Red Cross Creole-speaking volunteers have left Miami to join the USNS Comfort offshore in Haiti tomorrow. Once aboard, they will serve as interpreters for patients receiving medical care from the U.S. military. * The American Red Cross is also coordinating shipments of blood and blood products to Haiti at the request of the Pan American Health Organization.
21 January 2010