News

Call to action as Haiti hit by devastating quake

18 January 2010

Humanitarian actors sprang into action this week as Haiti was devastated by an earthquake which has left tens of thousands dead or wounded, and thousands more unaccounted for. The earthquake, which hit Haiti's capital, Port au Prince on Tuesday just before 5pm local time, registered 7.0 magnitude and is thought to be the most devastating in the region for centuries. The force of it has rendered it impossible to properly ascertain the number of casualties; however, it is likely that they will run into tens, if not hundreds of thousands. Around three million people call the area home, and will ultimately be affected. Meanwhile victims of the quake have been forced to sleep in the open, some still amongst the rubble of the disaster, because there is nowhere else to go.

It is a bitter irony that Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, has now received this further blow. People who had so little before, have now lost even that.

Dr Hany El Bana stressed the need for coordinated response today, urging actors to communicate fully. ‘As humanitarians, we have a duty to help people throughout the world - wherever there is need,' he said. ‘We must also be seen to work impartially - Western organisations in Islamic countries and Islamic organisations in the West. We must also work in a way that will have the best impact. The needs in Haiti are large, but experience after the Asian Tsunami and elsewhere shows that the international humanitarian community needs to work smarter by building partnerships.'

The Humanitarian Forum has offered its website and discussion boards as a means of enabling communication and coordination. Please follow this link for a full list of our partners' activities, and if you are an actor in the region, help us to share vital information by updating our boards here.

Information can also be directed to claudia@humanitarianforum.org and shahira@humanitarianforum.org .

Click here to access further details of the emergency response.