Bloggers for Haiti

What would you do if your home were destroyed in the blink of an eye? Your family homeless, injured, or worse. Everything you had taken for granted, gone. Your life changed beyond recognition.

The earthquake that shook Haiti, measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale on Tuesday 12th January 22:00pm (GMT) took the little they had and buried it.

Homes, schools, hospitals and even the Presidential Palace were raised to the ground.

The injured and dying lie in make shift wards outside hospitals with little or no medical assistance. There is no running water and food is scarce.

In desperation, looters are taking what they can, while aid workers struggle to get food, clothing and water to the population as the earthquake destroyed many roads leaving many thousands of people completely cut off.

The bodies of the dead are piled high in the street while others remain under the buildings by which they were crushed. Some have been buried in mass graves.

The true scale of this disaster may never be known with the death toll being estimated in hundreds of thousands.

My tears of pity cannot ease any suffering so instead I am reaching out to the people of Haiti in the only way I can.

I have decided to make a donation to the Bloggers For Haita Just Giving Page. The money raised from this page goes to ShelterBox. EnglishMum has created the page in order for the Blogging community to be able to reach out in a practical way to help the people of Haiti.

She says:

“ShelterBox is such a unique organisation because what they provide is an entire rescue kit in a box. Each box contains:

• A ten-person tent with privacy partitions that allow its occupants to divide the space as they see fit.
• A range of other survival equipment including thermal blankets and insulated ground sheets, essential in areas where temperatures plummet at nightfall.
• Life-saving means of water purification. Water supplies often become contaminated after a major disaster, as infrastructure and sanitation systems are destroyed, this presents a secondary but no less dangerous threat to survivors than the initial disaster itself.
• A basic tool kit containing a hammer, axe, saw, trenching shovel, hoe head, pliers and wire cutters. These items enable people to improve their immediate environment, by chopping firewood or digging a latrine, for example. Then, when it is possible, to start repairing or rebuilding the home they were forced to leave.
• A wood burning or multi-fuel stove that can burn anything from diesel to old paint. This provides the heart of the new home where water is boiled, food is cooked and families congregate. In addition, there are pans, utensils, bowls, mugs and water storage containers.
• Each box can be adapted to the individual needs of the disaster area, for example, following the Javanese earthquake in 2006, when some resources were available locally or could be salvaged from one storey buildings, the overwhelming need was for shelter – so ShelterBox just sent tents, packing two in each box. The box itself is lightweight and waterproof and has been used for a variety of purposes in the past – from water and food storage containers to a cot for a newly born baby.
• And lastly, but I think just as importantly, each box contains a children’s pack containing drawing books, crayons and pens. For children who have lost most, if not all, of their possessions, these small gifts are treasured.”

Each ShelterBox cost an average of £490, (which based on 6 month’s use is a cost of 27p per day).

I hope you can make a donation too, big or small.

http://www.justgiving.com/Bloggers-For-Haiti

Thanks for taking the time to read this post.