Haiti Earthquake
Dear Friends and Supporters of Haitian Roots,
By now most of you have heard that yesterday Haiti experienced the worst earthquake ever recorded in their history—7.0 magnitude. The earthquake devastated Port au Prince and its surrounding areas. At this time communication is extremely limited. We have had some contact via e-mail from people on the ground but have not been able to make contact with any of our family members, Haitian Roots coordinators, or children in Haiti. This is very likely the darkest time in Haiti’s history. Many of the more sturdy buildings in the Port au Prince area have either collapsed or sustained serious damage, including the Presidential Palace, the UN office, hospitals, and hotels. If these sturdy buildings have been hit hard, we can only imagine what has happened to the structures that our H.R. families are living in. Although news reports here in the US are not mentioning any number of the kind, our contacts in Haiti believe that there are as many as 100,000 deaths.
Thank you all for your love, concern, and prayers for our loved ones in Haiti. We will be accepting emergency fund donations that we will use once we are able to travel to Haiti. Our President, Isson Joseph, is planning to fly down just the moment he is able, but it may be several weeks before the airport in Port au Prince begins running normal flights again. There are many larger organizations involved in the immediate rescue and relief efforts. You can find a list of some of them here: www.cnn.com/2010/world/americas/01/13/haiti/aid.response.index.html
We will update you as soon as we have any information about our coordinators or children in Haiti.
Sincerely,
The Haitian Roots Team
609 W. 3850 S.
Riverdale, UT 84405
801.529.8877
