My thoughts on the Quake.

[rdy2go]

My heart broke as I listened to the radio reports during the first few hours and days following the earthquake in Haiti. It started as just a side bar almost. "Reports are coming in of a strong earthquake in Haiti." The announcers voice said. As the day wore on, and the hours turned to days the newscasts began to center more and more on the devastation. I was traveling for work while this was going down, and in my hotel room at night I watched the news reports and the programing about the quake, the story lines all had the same theme, thousands and thousands of innocent lives lost. Hundreds of thousands more lives forever changed, and not for the better. The people of that island don't deserve this, they had so little to start with, and have been pounded by natural disasters so many times, hurricanes mostly, plus bad government in Haiti didn't 'zactly help either.

I can't imagine what it must be like for those people, and I am so sad for them,(those who died as well as those survivors who have to try to forge ahead, a huge task!) and those people from other countries that died because they were there volunteering or working to try to improve that country. (From a Canadian perspective there are 16 Canadians confirmed dead, and still 300 unaccounted for, no doubt the death toll will rise among my countrymen and women, as it will for any country who had people in Haiti.) We had some snow here in Nova Scotia over the last few days, not a lot but enough to make a lot of people complain, big fucking deal, snow! Somehow, in light of the tragedy that has has fallen on the shoulders of the Haitian people, 6 inches of snow doesn't seem to matter much.

The earthquake in Haiti has united many countries of the world to help, sending money, troops, equipment, etc to assist in the humanitian effort, that is a good thing, but it has also brought out the worst in people, as the survivors suffer from thirst and hunger, and from untreated injuries we can see how desperate they are getting. Violence and other crimes will rise, perhaps this is a side effect of the devastation, but I think that maybe some see it as the only way to stay alive. Even the safety of those who are there helping is in doubt in a lot of cases. It is a tragedy on so many levels.

I urge anyone who can to make a donation, regardless of how much, it will all help. I also would like to remind people to think about the way you donate. You can call a telethon, and make a pledge of... let's say 300 dollars, or if you think about other options you can maximize the 300 dollars. For instance, I work for a company who always sets up a fund for employees to help out different causes. Usually, when huge disasters like this occur my company will match an employees donation. So, since I'm on a budget, and can only afford one donation, I gave at the office so to speak, if my contribution is X dollars that turns into X dollars times 2, the gov't is matching what is raised for Haitian relief so that doubled amount gets doubled again this way my contribution has quadrupled. Yeah I don't see my name scroll across a TV screen because I called the telethon, but my donation is maximized because I thought about it a bit. Of course we all donate based on what we feel is the best way, and the options avaliable to us, the important thing is that we, if we can, help out. Be aware of the scammers who are playing on our willingness to help out, there are many out there who are posing as Haitian releif charities, but are only in it for themselves. So be careful with your money!

Finally, my thoughts are with anyone on our site who has lost a family member or loved one because of this tragedy.

:2cents:

[Cherokee_Mountaincat]

I hated that they are ceaseing their efforts to find any more survivors, but I guess you can only do so much. People from several countries were lost, not just the people from that little country. I wanted to knock hell out of that Preacher who said they invited disaster when they "Made a pact with the Devil to rid their country from the French a 100 years back" :rolleyes:
Some people can be So ignorant. A natural disaster has nothing to do with people, its just going to happen. This same can happen here too, if Yellowstone decided to blow her top someday...
May God and the Spirits work to help them recover from this tragedy. For those of you that pray, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
Cat

[mikey3000]

It is absolutely heart wrenching. :(

[darkeyes]

Like many I have agonised as I have read newspaper reports and watched the telly pictures of the human tragedy which is Haiti. It truly brings home the irrelevance of most of our problems. My heart and spirits raised every time another life was saved from the rubble. Yet I know these were all too few, for Haiti may have lost something like 3% of its people. It is a human tragedy like few others. Were my country to lose that sort of figure from its population some 150,000 people would be lost. If the state of which my country is a part did so, it would cost the lives of 1.8 million people, and if the US was hit by a similar catastrophe, something like 11 million would have their lives extinguished. These figures truly bring home the scale of this awful natural occurance. Although the Asian tsunami killed a similar number of people than the quake, the loss of life was spread among many nations, most were much better able to manage the aftermath, being economically better fitted, and structurally more capable of recovery and rebuilding. This does not minimise the scale of that tragedy, but it does illustrate the difference between those nations and Haiti's infrastructure lacking, poverty stricken economy.

In another thread I told of a student of mine who had family in Port au Prince. As of yesterday, nothing had been heard of their fate, and with the chaos and misery the country faces now, nothing is expected to be heard for some time. This brought home to me more than any television or newspaper report just how this and other tragedies affect people around the world. I have been affected by other catastrophes in the sense, I have been appalled by them. But knowing and liking someone who may have lost half a family, truly has affected me more than any other.

That the world is responding in such a generous fashion is to its credit, and while there are reports of many difficult and delays in getting food and medical aid to those so badly in need, it is hardly surprising with the scale of the disaster. A little more disconcerting is the international sniping which has been going on between nations but this is not the time to comment on that. Far too much needs done, and we can all play our part by donating what we can. Kate and I usually go out every Saturday night, have fun and dance the night away. Last Saturday and this, we have foregone our revelries, and the monies we would have spent we have donated to the disaster appeal. For those in the UK the following is the web site address:

http://www.dec.org.uk/

This disaster will affect the people of Haiti for years to come. Please give generously and do what you can for a people who quite simply are at the end of their tether.:)