Haiti Relief Updates From Global Philanthropy Group

Global Philanthropy Group consistently compiles news and information regarding relief efforts in Haiti. Here is the update for January 21, 2010, courtesy of GPG.

General

•A recently repaired road and reopened pier allow for improved distribution of humanitarian aid, although more remains to be done. (via CNN)

•Many victims in Haiti are still dying every day due to a lack of medical care and equipment. (via WSJ)

•The Haitian government plans to relocate 400,000 people who have been left homeless to tented villages outside of Port-au-Prince. (via BBC)

Aid

•The House passed a bill on Wednesday allowing donations made to Haitian earthquake victims to be tax deductible for 2009, in order to induce more giving; Senate expected to follow suit soon. (via Washington Post)

•The U.S. Navy Hospital ship Comfort arrived in Haiti and is now using its two helicopters to airlift patients as the pier on which it planned to dock was wrecked by yesterday's aftershock. (via Voice of America)

•Aid agencies, such as the UN and Oxfam are struggling after having lost key personnel in the earthquake but are still working hard to expand the relief effort. (via Washington Post)

•Haitian immigrants living illegally in the U.S. are offered temporary protected status, giving an estimated 100,000-200,000 Haitians 18 months to live and work legally in the US. (via NY Times)

•Aid groups are beginning to shift their focus to longer term challenges, such as reliable shelter for those left homeless by the earthquake, especially with Haiti's rainy season coming in May. (via NY Times)

•Save the Children, World Vision and a unit of the British Red Cross have called for a stop to new adoptions of Haitian children, citing that many children are not orphans and have only been separated from their families amidst the chaos. (via CNN)

•In partnership with Architecture for Humanity and NGOs, Shakira has pledged to build a new school in Haiti through her Barefoot Foundation. (via Huffington Post)

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UPDATE FOR JANUARY 19, 2010

•European Commission has doubled previous death-toll estimates to around the 200,000 mark. The number of homeless is currently estimated at 1.5 million. (via The Miami Herald)

•The U.N. Security Council granted Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's request for 2,000 more peacekeepers and 1,500 more police, bringing the total in-country officers to 9,000, and 3,600 respectively. (via CNN)

•U.S. is temporarily allowing orphaned Haitian children into the U.S. Before the quake struck there were at least 300 pending adoptions in the US alone. Haiti has around 380,000 orphans, a number that is expected to have increased in the wake of the earthquake. (via BBC)

•Full rescue efforts continue in Haiti as survivors are found alive. Search efforts are usually called off after 5 to 7 days but instances of surviving longer exist. (via BBC)

•Major AID Pledges to Haiti (via BBC)

EU - $604M (420m Euros; £371M)
U.S. - $100M pledged in immediate aid, with promise of more later
Canada - $58M
UK - $32M
Norway - $17.6M
France - $14.4M
World Bank - $100M

•More U.S. troops land with aid at Haiti presidential palace. Total U.S. on the ground military personnel now roughly 5,000, with thousands more expected. (via The New York Times)

•Much discussion over the role foreign aid should play in the relief and reconstruction of Haiti. (via The New York Times)

•Many challenges face the international aid effort; fuel, roads, security, etc. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being funneled into Haiti from countries around the world but the problem isn't getting there its getting in and in a timely manner. (via AlertNet)

•Major U.S. wireless carriers plan to speed up delivery of text-to-give donations pledged to the American Red Cross for Haiti relief efforts -- Verizon, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and AT&T, promised to get donated funds to the Red Cross within a week. (via The Wall Street Journal)