Is the World Responding Appropriately to the Crisi in Haiti?

By: Khadija Allen

Posted: 2/2/10

The earthquake devastation in Haiti was a major catastrophe that occurred on January 12, 2010.

The capital west of Port-au-Prince awoke to a 7.0 magnitude earthquake and destroyed nearly 70 percent of the city.

Haiti, a country already poverty-stricken, was hit with widespread damage that was out of the hands of the Haitian government. Thousands of Haitian people were predisposed to severe injuries, damaged homes, and lack of food or water. Rescue teams around the world occupied the city in search of people buried under the rubble. The Argentine Air Force Mobile Field Hospital was the only medical facility on duty and the Argentine helicopters from the United Nations treated the injured. The initial death toll estimated a range between 50,000 to 200,000 people.

During the next few days, Cuba, Peru, and Dominican Republic offered support in various ways to providing food donations and other basic aid to relief work. The Peruvian government provided rescue teams, dogs, and 50 tons of food. The United States Coast Guard deployed helicopters and several aircraft to the region to aid in relief work. The International Committee of the Red Cross set up a web site to help families locate their relatives in Haiti and abroad. On January 14, 2010, there was a military-style operation that took place during the next several weeks to evacuate people. Over 20 countries responded by providing assistance, supplies, or monetary needs to Haiti, while humanitarian groups moved in. Dominican Republic's President Leonel Fernandez and Haiti's President, Rene Preval set up communication bases to the rescue victims and supplied them with necessities such as electricity, food, and water.

The Red Cross Red Crescent health care ships came through to offer medical care to the Haitians who had little or no access to facilities in the area due to the earthquake damage. The first of three ships arrived on the scene and treated over 30,000 people. Over 14 Emergency Response Units have been deployed with units of water and sanitation needs, IT, telecommunication portals, and 250-bed hospitals. News organizations gave 24-hour news cycles on the event which helped tremendously in its efforts to raise money for the nation of Haiti.

The response urged social networking sites to help out in any way possible through spreading messages and pleas for help with "Haiti," "Help Haiti," and "Red Cross" that was posted on Twitter. The American Red Cross had earned $7 million within the first day by offering $10 donations via cell phone. The OpenStreet Map Community responded as well using high-resolution photography in its search provided by Geoeye. Even though rescue teams have ended their search, various countries are still continuing with the effort to rebuild the nation and will slowly but surely show signs of recovery. With the long-standing support, the world acknowledges the work that needs to be done in order to make Haiti flourish again.