Support for Haiti has been coming from all over the world ever since the impoverished Caribbean country was left devastated. On Tuesday, January 12, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, the strongest Haiti has seen since 1770 violently shook the island leaving behind death, destruction and disaster.

Pledges and contributions have been coming from all over the world, all in an effort to speed up the recovery process in Haiti and save lives. In St Lucia numerous agencies as well as regular citizens, have answered Haiti’s call for help. Telecommunications companies, financial institutions, businesses and the St Lucian government have all come forward with substantial contributions that are expected to go towards the devastated Caribbean island.

When news of the quake surfaced, the Caribbean Community announced that an assessment team would be deployed to review the situation. Leaders from across the region pledged their support, and on Friday, the government of St Lucia approved half a million Eastern Caribbean dollars (EC 500,000.00) in assistance to Haiti in response to the 7.0 magnitude earthquake which flattened the country’s capital.

In a statement shortly after a meeting of his Cabinet on Thursday, Prime Minister King said the government was deeply concerned about the gravity of the situation in Haiti and said the international community should spare no effort to return the country to normalcy as soon as possible. Prime Minister King urged all Saint Lucians to donate generously to the relief efforts being planned locally.

Initial reports indicate that as much as 50,000 persons may have perished in the disaster and there are reports of widespread damage to infrastructure with up to five million people adversely affected. The earthquake brought down a large number of buildings including a hospital and schools, and communication within the country was also limited.

Telecommunications companies LIME and Digicel have both come forward with their support. LIME Caribbean has established a text line for customers who wish to make donations to the Haitian Earthquake Relief effort. Prepaid or postpaid customers can simply text the word “Haiti” to 4357(HELP) to make their donation. Each text costs $5. The entire amount collected across the Caribbean will be donated to the relief effort.
LIME Caribbean CEO David Shaw said: “We know that all of the Caribbean is deeply affected by what has occurred in Haiti and that many of our customers want to do whatever they can to help, so we are happy to provide a way for people to make their contributions.”
In addition, LIME employees have launched an employee donation initiative across the 13 islands in which the company operates to collect cash, clothing, canned, non-perishable food and personal hygiene items to send to Haiti.
The LIME Caribbean CEO said the company would match ‘dollar for dollar’ all contributions collected from employees across their business.
“We add our sympathies to those already expressed and hope that our contribution will assist, even in some small way,” Shaw said.
The company’s contributions will be channeled through both the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), and the Red Cross.
Digicel Group has launched a text and voice donation line to enable its 10 million plus customers worldwide to donate money to the massive humanitarian relief effort that is urgently needed in Haiti.
By texting the word “HELP” or calling a short code*, Digicel customers in any of its 32 markets worldwide can make a difference to the people of Haiti by contributing directly to relief efforts.
Digicel will donate all funds received from the text and voice donation line to relief efforts in Haiti. Importantly, there is no restriction on the number of texts or calls a customer can send or make, so people are free to donate as much as they like.
Colm Delves, Digicel Group CEO, said: “As a part of the Caribbean community, we are committed to finding every possible way to help the people of Haiti in their time of need. Digicel has already donated US$5 million to the emergency relief efforts in the form of donations to NGOs in Haiti. We are now also offering our 10 million customers the opportunity to join us in supporting our neighbors in Haiti. Together, we can truly make a difference in the wake of this terrible disaster.”

Meanwhile, the WAVE radio station alongside stations throughout the OCM network have embarked on a drive to assist Haiti through a radiothon on Saturday, January 16. Corporate clients, listeners and St Lucians at large are invited to make a pledge for this worthy cause. In support of this venture, celebrity musicians, former ambassadors to Caricom and Haiti, prime ministers from the various Caricom islands will be guests on the program lending support.

Meanwhile, the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action, (CAFRA has reported that at least one of the organization’s members has died in Haiti.

A statement from CAFRA said members from eighteen Caribbean countries were in deep mourning as the organization’s regional Secretariat announced the death of Muriel Merlet, the CAFRA national representative in Haiti, who died in the earthquake. Muriel was attending a meeting at the Ministry of Women’s Rights (along with other members of CAFRA, who have not been accounted for) when the earthquake struck on Tuesday.

“Muriel Merlet worked tirelessly in the cause of justice for women in Haiti,” a statement from CAFRA read. “She was a founder of ENFOFANM, a non-profit organization striving to protect and improve the rights of Haitian women.”

CAFRA will be sending a team led by regional chairperson of CAFRA, Flavia Cherry, to Haiti. The Feminist Research Association has launched a call for solidarity and support for women in Haiti, emphasizing not only their immeasurable needs at this time, but the appalling and increased vulnerability in this time of destruction and loss.

“We extend our heartfelt sympathy to the other women activists and the staff of the Ministry of Women’s Rights who also perished, when the building housing that ministry collapsed,” said representatives from the organization. We also call on citizens of the Caribbean to rise up and support Haiti in this most difficult time.”

Caribbean Airline LIAT has reported that Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority (ECCAA) management personnel in Haiti are among those missing. In a press release the airline said LIAT’s Board of Directors had agreed to make available use of an aircraft to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) to support the regional relief effort for Haiti. A number of LIAT’s staff including pilots and engineers have already offered to provide their services for this activity.

“We at LIAT continue to experience strong emotion and deep sorrow after this terrible disaster which has affected our neighbouring Caribbean country causing tens of thousands of victims and heavy material damage in its wake,” said the LIAT release.

Director of the Caricom Representation Office in Haiti, Earl Huntley, said Wednesday he has not been able to make contact with employees following the quake.

“I got an email this morning from my deputy who said that he is okay but he has not been able to reach the rest of the staff,” Huntley told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) from St Lucia.

He said the quake occurred at a time “when people would have left office and on their way home . . . so I am concerned about the rest of the staff.”

“We don’t know where they are, what have happened to them,” Huntley told CMC, adding that he intends to return to Port-au-Prince soon.

Huntley said the earthquake would now seriously affect Haiti’s movement towards joining the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) that allows for the free movement of skills, goods, services and labour across the community.

“It is the biggest disaster in the Caribbean in years and you know Caricom was trying to integrate Haiti as quickly as possible into the community . . . obviously that work is now set back and efforts now will be to try to get Haiti to recover.”

Huntley also told CMC some people might regard the earthquake “as a blessing in disguise” as it would now “give them a chance to rebuild and rebuild in according with good planning.”

“One of the problems is that there has been unplanned development all over Port-au-Prince and Port-au-Prince now has over three million people in a city that was not even designed for even a million people . . .

“In a sense it gives them a chance to rebuild and do so properly,” said Huntley noting, “Caricom would have to bring in a mission there as quickly as possible.”

Caricom Chairman and the Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, has appealed to the international community to follow-up their pledges of assistance to the country, saying that had not been the case in the past.

“In the coming days and weeks, as the true picture of the destruction is revealed, we will be in a better position to say more on the type of assistance needed and where our resources could best be put to use,” said Skerrit, who is meeting with Caricom Secretary General Edwin Carrington later today in Dominica.

On Thursday, January 14, Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis Denzil Douglas, chairman of the OECS Secretariat, said it was with a sense of deep sadness on behalf of the people and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), that he joined others from around the world to express deep sympathy for the people of Haiti who had been struck once again, by the devastating blow of a natural disaster with all of its horrific consequences.

Douglas said: “Our Haitian brothers and sisters are integral members of the Caribbean Community. They share a language in common with our OECS citizens of Dominica and St Lucia. Our hearts go out to all of those who are suffering in the wake of this latest disaster so incomprehensible in its scope. We share the anguish of those who have lost loved ones and offer our prayers in comfort for those who survive.
“There is a common humanity, which binds us all, one to the other, and it is in this spirit of brotherhood and community that we extend to the people of Haiti our solidarity in their time of need,” said Douglas. “We will do everything in our power to contribute to those measures currently being deployed to ease the pain and the suffering left behind by the events of 12 January. We hold the entire Nation in our prayers.”
Meanwhile Caribbean360.com is reporting that several Caribbean nations are bracing for an influx of Haitians fleeing their earthquake-hit country, with some already preparing to house, clothe and feed them, whether they enter legally or not.

Reports are that in the Bahamas, Director of Immigration Jack Thompson has confirmed that a hold has been placed on the repatriation of Haitians who have entered the country illegally.

“We have no intentions of repatriating the Haitians at the Detention Centre at this time given the extent of the devastation in Haiti,” said Thompson.

In fact, on the morning after the earthquake, a flight that was scheduled to repatriate 72 Haitians was cancelled.
Officials say that Inagua, the closest of the Bahamas islands to Haiti, is likely to be the first affected by Haitians fleeing the devastation.

The website further reports that in Jamaica, coastal surveillance for asylum seekers has begun offshore the parishes of Portland—one of the island’s nearest points to Haiti—and St Mary’s, and preparations have been put in place to “receive, screen and treat” those who come over.

Ministry of National Security Richard Reese also told the Jamaica Observer newspaper that a facility has already been identified to house Haitians likely to seek refuge here, although he did not disclose the location.

The Dominica government has also announced that the stay of all Haitians already in the island will be automatically extended, regardless of their current status.

“We decided . . . that nationals of Haiti who are on island or whose stay may have already expired, or is soon to expire, or who may have arrived here in an irregular way without the proper documentation, that we will extend their stay for a further six months,” National Security and Immigration Minister Charles Savarin said.

“Nobody needs to be in hiding. Nobody needs to fail to contact their people overseas because they fear that if immigration were to find them that they would be sent home with nowhere to go because there is now no home in Haiti,” he added.

Meanwhile the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) has released a list of bank accounts established in aid of Haiti. See below for the account numbers.

has over three million people in a city that was not even designed for even a million people . . .

“In a sense it gives them a chance to rebuild and do so properly,” said Huntley noting, “Caricom would have to bring in a mission there as quickly as possible.”

Caricom Chairman and the Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, has appealed to the international community to follow-up their pledges of assistance to the country, saying that had not been the case in the past.

“In the coming days and weeks, as the true picture of the destruction is revealed, we will be in a better position to say more on the type of assistance needed and where our resources could best be put to use,” said Skerrit, who is meeting with Caricom Secretary General Edwin Carrington later today in Dominica.

On Thursday, January 14, Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis Denzil Douglas, chairman of the OECS Secretariat, said it was with a sense of deep sadness on behalf of the people and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), that he joined others from around the world to express deep sympathy for the people of Haiti who had been struck once again, by the devastating blow of a natural disaster with all of its horrific consequences.

Douglas said: “Our Haitian brothers and sisters are integral members of the Caribbean Community. They share a language in common with our OECS citizens of Dominica and St Lucia. Our hearts go out to all of those who are suffering in the wake of this latest disaster so incomprehensible in its scope. We share the anguish of those who have lost loved ones and offer our prayers in comfort for those who survive.

“There is a common humanity, which binds us all, one to the other, and it is in this spirit of brotherhood and community that we extend to the people of Haiti our solidarity in their time of need,” said Douglas. “We will do everything in our power to contribute to those measures currently being deployed to ease the pain and the suffering left behind by the events of 12 January. We hold the entire Nation in our prayers.”

Meanwhile Caribbean360.com is reporting that several Caribbean nations are bracing for an influx of Haitians fleeing their earthquake-hit country, with some already preparing to house, clothe and feed them, whether they enter legally or not.

Reports are that in the Bahamas, Director of Immigration Jack Thompson has confirmed that a hold has been placed on the repatriation of Haitians who have entered the country illegally.

“We have no intentions of repatriating the Haitians at the Detention Centre at this time given the extent of the devastation in Haiti,” said Thompson.

In fact, on the morning after the earthquake, a flight that was scheduled to repatriate 72 Haitians was cancelled.

Officials say that Inagua, the closest of the Bahamas islands to Haiti, is likely to be the first affected by Haitians fleeing the devastation.

The website further reports that in Jamaica, coastal surveillance for asylum seekers has begun offshore the parishes of Portland—one of the island’s nearest points to Haiti—and St Mary’s, and preparations have been put in place to “receive, screen and treat” those who come over.

Ministry of National Security Richard Reese also told the Jamaica Observer newspaper that a facility has already been identified to house Haitians likely to seek refuge here, although he did not disclose the location.

The Dominica government has also announced that the stay of all Haitians already in the island will be automatically extended, regardless of their current status.

“We decided . . . that nationals of Haiti who are on island or whose stay may have already expired, or is soon to expire, or who may have arrived here in an irregular way without the proper documentation, that we will extend their stay for a further six months,” National Security and Immigration Minister Charles Savarin said.

“Nobody needs to be in hiding. Nobody needs to fail to contact their people overseas because they fear that if immigration were to find them that they would be sent home with nowhere to go because there is now no home in Haiti,” he added.

Meanwhile the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) has released a list of bank accounts established in aid of Haiti. See below for the account numbers.