AND THEN ONE DAY…
Photo Credit: Google Images
A Haitian man cries out in despair at the destruction of his hometown.
January 13, 2010 • written by Quinci Hayward
Filed under Breaking News, News, featured, top story
”Slidell High did a great job, I’m so proud of the kids. I was shocked when kids started coming up to me with 20 dollars bills, and asking ‘is this enough?’ ” says Senior Class President Branden Summers. Slidell High School raised over 3,000 dollars to aid in Haiti relief effort by colleting money during their half-an-hour lunch periods, beating out Northshore High School who raised 1500 dollars. “Our small town has been a first hand witness to tragic natural disasters, it only felt right to band together and help the hopeless,” says Alyssa Knights.
Children playing in the streets, students living among their books, and adults participating in their daily rituals. It was a normal day in the Haitian capitol, of Port-au-Prince. On Tuesday, January 12th, late afternoon everything changed. For an estimated 30 seconds, a earthquake tipping the rector scale at 7.0 rippled through the city. The Haiti devastation was described as the second largest since the historic 9.0 earthquake of 1960 in southern Chile. Killing approximately 1,655, injuring 3,000, and leaving 2,000,000 homeless, the earthquake rendered $500 million dollars worth of damage.
As if the violent aftershock of this tragedy was not enough, on January 20th at 6:30 a.m., the remains of Port-au-Prince trembled once more, when a powerful 6.1 earthquake rattled under the broken streets, sending a surge of panic through the traumatized survivors. As days and weeks pass, the death rate of the Haitian population climbed an estimated “100,000 and counting,” says National forces. The accepted toll for casualties may reach “as high as 200,000″ says Haitian officials. The estimated death rate of 50,000 started to become “too conservative” when the hunt for bodies hit 20,000. Death statistics are increasing daily, due to the collapsed hospital and the obvious lack of food and water. Many Haitians have gathered in the streets of their capitol Port-au-Prince, crying out for loved ones and medical attention. With no reinforcements or laws on the island restless rebels looked to criminal activity to escape the turmoil of their beloved nation.
Help for Haiti has been placed into full effect by the American people. President Barrack Obama has promised Haiti that they shall not be “forsaken” nor “forgotten,” and pledged $15 million dollars to the quaked slum. Also, well-known celebrities, such as, Wyclef Jean, Anderson Cooper, Alicia Keys, and Stevie Wonder (just to name a few) are participating in a national televised campaign for Haitian restoration called “Hope for Haiti Now.” While countless others have chosen to contribute to ClintonBushHaitiFund.org, others have chosen to use modern day technology to give a small donation of $10 dollars by texting “Q U A K E” to 20222 (the donation will be added to your cell phone bill). One may find more ways to help at usaid.gov/haiti/. The FBI and U.S. government warns all of bogus donation scams, urging all to be careful and use a “critical eye” when evaluating and considering the many donataion programs. All are encouraged to “make contributions directly to known organizations, and to not rely on others to make your donation; double-check to ensure the contribution was received and used for the intended purpose” says FBI.
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