As you may have already heard, a catastrophic 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti several hours ago. While many details about the situation on the ground are still developing, CNN reports that the US State Department has been told to expect a serious loss of life. Below is a round-up of statements and updates from our friends and partners. You can also read these statements from President Obama and Secretary Clinton.
CARE is attempting to contact our country office in Haiti and assess the humanitarian situation following a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck near the impoverished nation’s capital city. Initial reports indicate the disaster could be a major catastrophe.
A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck a region about 14 miles from Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince, according to media reports. World Vision staff members are assessing the situation and determining a potential emergency response.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer interviews a World Vision official:
WESTPORT, Conn. (Jan. 12, 2010) — Save the Children is verifying the safety of staff just hours after a major 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, near the capital city of Port-au-Prince.
Houses are down in the area surrounding the Save the Children office, which was also damaged in the quake, according to Ian Rodgers, the agency’s Emergency Response Advisor, who is currently in Port-au-Prince.
An estimated 1.8 million residents were violently shaken by the earthquake and aftershocks affecting the densely populated areas near Port-au-Prince.
Save the Children has worked in Haiti since 1985, primarily in the capital city of Port-au-Prince and the Central Plateau region, providing health, education, protection and food security programs to vulnerable children.
Right now, Save the Children is assessing staff and program safety, which will be complicated by the onset of evening. Employees who were in the office at the time are uninjured, though about half of program staff were elsewhere. The agency plans to deploy emergency teams and begin relief efforts soon.
I’ve been on the phone for most of the last three hours figuring out the best way we can respond to the news in Haiti.
A 7.0-magnitude earthquake has toppled buildings, including at least one hospital, and we assume there are significant casualties (the news has been slow to trickle out).
We do not currently have staff in Haiti, but we do have extensive experience responding to earthquakes — most recently in Padang, Indonesia last September. My colleagues and I have been canvassing our own emergency operations team as well as veteran relief workers from throughout the agency to determine the most qualified and immediately deployable staff.
We will begin deploying our team tomorrow and working now to line up resources to respond.
When I served in the Peace Corps in West Africa a few years ago, I saw HIV/AIDS and its effects firsthand. I saw children who were orphaned from the disease, met people who were sick, knew adults and children who died. I saw the devastating impact of AIDS on a community.
Upon returning to the U.S., I began to work with World Vision’s college advocacy network, World Vision ACT:S. We seek to mobilize a generation to respond to injustices, particularly AIDS, malaria, hunger, and child slavery. I see the passion and idealism of college students. I’ve seen how a small group of committed people can mobilize to make a difference.
I’ve also seen how much competes for our attention today, and understandably so. Health care, the war in Afghanistan, the economic crisis, swine flu, climate change… the list goes on. The AIDS crisis can seem like old news. I’m ashamed to admit that I struggle to remain focused sometimes, even after seeing the effects of AIDS day by day for two years while in the Peace Corps.
World AIDS Day is a time to rejuvenate our commitment to respond to AIDS. We’ve made great strides to combat this pandemic, but we must respond to the challenges ahead.
Now more than ever we must rally around those who are affected by HIV/AIDS around the world. This year, we want to draw special attention to mass of invisible victims whose voices are not being heard–the 2 million children under age 15 who are living with HIV. Most of these children contracted the disease while in the womb, during birth, or while breastfeeding.
Mother-to-child transmission is preventable. Let’s join together to help their voices be heard. We’re rallying together this week to call our senators to ask them to keep their promise in the fight against global AIDS.
It’s simple. You just need 10 minutes, an Internet connection, and a phone. Go to our website and click “Make the call.” You’ll get the phone numbers and call script you need. One phone call is worth several hundred petition signatures. Just ten phone calls can make a significant impact.
Watch this video by Princess Kasune Zulu, talking about why we should advocate for AIDS:
This past week, Australian’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, along with Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbull, lifted up the role that citizens, people of faith, and governments have in the fight against global poverty at the launch of the new Poverty and Justice Bible, at the Parliament House in Canberra.
Joined by Tim Costello of World Vision Australia as well as representatives of Micah Challenge, Prime Minister Rudd highlighted Australians collective commitment to increased international development assistance, and the role faith groups have in advocating for more and better aid:
Of course, for those of us engaged in national political life, our work on policy is incomplete unless we are working arm-in-arm with the great organisations of the Church and charitable sector.
All of you in this room know full well that there is a limit to what Government can do. All of you know full well that, when it comes to dealing with poverty, at home and abroad, this is often done best when you have a creative and effective partnership between the resources of Government and the compassion of Church and charitable organisations.
…In Australia, what we have sought to do in recent times is to put our shoulder to the wheel by lifting Australia’s contribution to ODA around the developing world…
Problems abroad however, cannot be ignored. Remember, it was [John] Wesley who said ‘the world is my parish’. And so it is for us as well.
Therefore, by lifting what we seek to do around the world, and by also putting our shoulder to the wheels of other countries in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals, our objective is to make a real and quantifiable difference.
Last night I was joined by 100 faith leaders from across the country, to launch and begin to plan ONE Sabbath events in churches, mosques, synagogues and temples. Speaking on the call with me were 4 national faith leaders – Princess Kasune Zulu, a noted AIDS activist, Zambia native and Christian activist in Chicago; Rabbi Shawn Zevit, Director of Tikkum Olam for the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation; Imam Mohamed Hag Magid, Vice President of the Islamic Society of North America; Ishani Chowdhury, the Hindu American Foundation Director of Public Policy. They endorsed ONE Sabbath and discussed the role of faith inspired advocacy with ONE.
ONE Sabbath organizes congregations to raise awareness and advocate with ONE through their worship services, small groups, youths groups and women’s organizations.
If you missed the call last night and would like to listen in, check it out here.
And do be sure to learn more sign up to host your own ONE Sabbath event at www.one.org/onesabbath.
This week over 1,000 Christian pastors and lay leaders and activists will converge on Washington, DC to attend Sojourners’ “Mobilization to End Poverty.” ONE has joined with World Vision, the ELCA, and Oxfam America as the major cosponsors of this mobilization.
The 4-day event focuses on both domestic and global poverty, and ONE is the lead cosponsor on the international agenda. Arjun Mody from our Government Relations Team and Mikki Imai and Josh Lozman from our Policy Team have done great work in hammering out the global agenda.
The attendees are a natural audience for ONE. Many ONE members are already attending and we hope to make many others ONE members at the event.
ONE will participate in key ways during the event:
ONE President & CEO David Lane will speak during a plenary session today at 1:30 EST in a session called “Half in 10 and the MDGs – Are these Goals Achievable?”
Arjun will lead the training on international issues for the Lobby Day on the Hill.
ONE will host an evening reception on Tuesday at 8:30. This is another chance to introduce those attending to ONE.
During the only workshop on global poverty, I will moderate and Kenyan Professor Ndunge Kiiti will present. Prof. Kiiti is a leader from the partner organization Micah Challenge.
ONE will keep a constant presence throughout the event at the ONE table. Thanks to the ONE intern crew for helping with tabling!
This promises to be a terrific event, and we’ll bring you more updates as they occur in the coming days.
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