I hope this email finds you well, safe, happy, healthy and at peace :-)
As you know, today our world is facing a crisis of huge proportion.
"On Tuesday afternoon, January 12th, the worst earthquake in 200 years - 7.0 in magnitude - struck less than ten miles from the Caribbean city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The initial quake was later followed by twelve aftershocks greater than magnitude 5.0. Structures of all kinds were damaged or collapsed, from shantytown homes to national landmarks. It is still very early in the recovery effort, but millions are likely displaced, and thousands are feared dead as rescue teams from all over the world are now descending on Haiti to help where they are able."
I hope that no one had any minor or major loss or personal connection to the people in this earthquake, but just as being a part of humanity, we are all connected and affected in many ways.
We are blessed to be able to donate and give our money to help others, to volunteer our time, give our prayers and lend our support to them. So let us share our fortunate blessings with those who have been directly affected by this horrible natural disaster, and anyone who has been affected in any way by it.
The world needs our help. I write to you today to ask you to join together in helping to save hundreds of people in their time of need.
And please share this message with your friends and family. The more people and support - the better.
You can donate money. You can volunteer your time. You can pray. Everything makes a difference. Every dollar. Every minute. Every prayer. You are making a difference and you will help to save lives.
Today I donated to help victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti through the United Nations website.
Please donate too - even a few dollars! Just a little bit of money can save tons of lives!
You can donate online at:
United Nations Foundation:
https://secure.globalproblems-
or here:
Oxfam is providing providing clean water, shelter and sanitation to those affected by the Earthquake in Haiti.
https://www.oxfam.org.uk/
"World leaders pledged hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of troops, but delivery was a logistical nightmare, and aid was arriving only in a trickle to the 3 million people thought to need assistance.
Power was still out and telecommunications rarely functioning. Most medical facilities had been severely damaged, if not leveled. Supplies of food and fresh water were dwindling. Ships could not bring their cargoes of supplies into Haiti's damaged port; the airport was functioning with severe limits; roads were blocked not only by debris but also by people who had no place to go for shelter. Search and rescue teams worked with the materials at hand, or waited, frustrated, for much-needed heavy equipment.
The Haitian Red Cross offered a cautious and rough estimate of the possible death toll.
"No one knows with precision, no one can confirm a figure," said Victor Jackson, an assistant national coordinator with Haiti's Red Cross, according to Reuters. "Our organization thinks between 45,000 and 50,000 people have died."
Former president Bill Clinton, who has partnered with former president George W. Bush to lead the country's long-term humanitarian and recovery efforts in Haiti, is urging Americans to donate money to relief groups to help bring aid to the devastated Caribbean nation.
"You've seen the pictures," Clinton said in an interview late Thursday with The Washington Post. "The streets are full of the wounded, the orphaned and the dead. It's a devastating, devastating thing."
Clinton, who also serves as the United Nations special envoy to Haiti, blitzed the network morning shows on Friday from his home in Chappaqua, N.Y., saying he and Bush are committed to helping earthquake-ravaged Haiti "build back better."
President Obama has tapped his two immediate predecessors to head the recovery, a partnership similar to one that Clinton and former president George H. W. Bush formed following the 2004 Asian tsunami.
Clinton and the younger Bush will help raise money in the United States, from their supporters and ordinary citizens alike, and funnel funds toward the most constructive rebuilding programs. They will be responsible for private-sector fundraising, which will supplement the $100 million in federal aid Obama announced Thursday. Clinton and Bush also plan to keep a spotlight on Haiti's recovery over the months and years to come.
"Once we get through this, the worst phase, and find the living and find the dead and try to preserve them so that their families can bury them, which is really important -- then we can start cleaning up the place and resume this development program," Clinton said in the interview, referencing projects that were launched before the earthquake by his charitable foundation and other groups in Haiti."
