INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — We’re making progress. The American public has reached out to help and their support is getting to Haitian earthquake survivors. More than 400 Red Cross workers from around the world as well as several thousands of local volunteers are addressing urgent needs and mobilizing a massive response operation in Haiti. The Red Cross is providing a wide range of help and support in the form of food, water, relief supplies, field hospitals, emotional support, sanitation facilities and family linking services for the Haiti earthquake survivors.
Relief materials are being delivered, and more help is on the way by air, land and sea.
The Red Cross spent the weekend delivering more than 300,000 liters of clean drinking water to survivors gathering in three different communities Latrines have also been built in the same areas to help address sanitation issues.
On Sunday, January 17, the Red Cross set up two medical centers to triage and treat, approximately 200 people per day. Three others will are arriving between now and Monday.
First aid posts have been set up in the streets, where Red Cross workers and volunteers from Haiti and other countries are working side-by-side to clean and stitch up wounds amidst the rubble.
Special Red Cross teams trained in search and rescue were able to save 40 people from a collapsed supermarket, including a small child, after 26 hours continuous efforts.
Over the weekend, three planes carrying Red Cross humanitarian assistance were expected in the region, delivering a field hospital and needed materials such as tarps, blankets, hygiene items, buckets, shelter supplies and kitchen sets. Another shipment of supplies for 20,000 families should arrive Monday on a cargo plane provided in partnership with FedEx.
In the days ahead, the Red Cross will begin to provide temporary shelters in Haiti. Kits, containing tarps, rope and tools, as well as tents and blankets, will be made available for an initial 20,000 families.
American Red Cross President and CEO Gail McGovern is in the Dominican Republic, meeting with Red Cross leadership from around the world, and will travel to Haiti on Tuesday to visit relief operations.
The Red Cross is training 40-100 Creole-speaking volunteers who will work as translators on the USS Comfort when Haitians will be brought aboard for medical care.
This is a massive urban disaster of unprecedented proportions, and we know that this is going to be a costly long-term recovery operation.
As of January 17, the American Red Cross has raised more than $103 million for relief efforts. We know that we are going to spend much more than that to help the people of Haiti.
Terrible times like these bring out the best in people, and we are grateful for the support being given to the American Red Cross.
People can donate in support of the relief effort in Haiti at www.redcross.org or by calling 1-800-REDCROSS. Mobile donors can text “Haiti” to 90999 to make a $10 contribution.
The Red Cross is helping reconnect families that have been separated by the earthquake.
As of Sunday morning, more than 21,600 people had registered with a special Red Cross Web site to help people search for their loved ones. The Web site of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) enables people in Haiti and abroad to search for and register the names of relatives missing since the earthquake. The web address is: www.icrc.org/familylinks. People in Haiti are registering to let their loved ones know they are safe and well.
