Friday, January 22, 2010

Haiti Earthquake: Relief Update #9

In just the first week of the Haiti response effort, the American Red Cross already has spent or committed $34 million (approximately 25 percent of what has been pledged or received) as of Thursday, January 21.

People in Haiti are still in need of basic items like food, water and medical care. It is frustrating for humanitarian organizations, like the American Red Cross, that also wish aid would arrive faster.

The infrastructure of Haiti is severely damaged-airports are clogged, roads are treacherous, and there is no large seaport available. This is causing bottlenecks and making it very difficult to get aid into the hands of survivors. Despite those problems, aid is starting to slowly make its way to those who need help.

It is still difficult to get planes caring humanitarian aid into the Port-au-Prince airport. The roads are heavily congested, and travel by road from the Dominican Republic has increased to an 18-hour journey.

But with the support of American Red Cross volunteers and donors, we are getting to these people - to help them piece together a life they once knew. Thank you for your support.

No comments:

Post a Comment

The American Red Cross-North Texas Region does not moderate comments prior to posting, and we gladly welcome your comments — supportive, dissenting, questioning or otherwise. In general, we do not delete or censor comments unless they:

· contain excessive profanity
· contain harsh or offensive language
· use flaming or threatening language
· are abusive
· are off-topic or an inappropriate tangent
· are blatantly spam
· promote or advertise businesses
· personally attack the blogger or other commenters

While the American Red Cross-North Texas Region seeks to inspire, educate and excite its readers, this blog is a resource for the community and inappropriate comments will not be allowed. Participants who violate this Comment Policy may be blocked from future access and/or commenting on this blog.