Haiti aid effort hit by fake coupon scam

Updated on : Tuesday, February 9, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE: The struggling aid effort in Haiti was hit by another setback Monday as the UN halted deliveries to some 10,000 quake survivors after discovering that fake coupons were in operation.

An agitated crowd of around 100 people continued to wait well into the afternoon at the drop-off site close to the town hall in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville as others clamored to get tickets valid for Tuesday.

"We need food!" one old lady shouted at a guard charged with manning the steel bars blocking the entrance to the town hall offices. Others simply pointed to their mouths and stomachs.

UN World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman David Orr said the suspension would affect around 10,000 survivors of the massive January 12 earthquake that killed over 212,000 people and left an estimated one million people homeless.

The United Nations agency has set up 16 food distribution points across the city, handing out 25-kilogram (55-pound) sacks of rice designed to feed a family for two weeks.

Orr said WFP partners hoped to restart the distributions at the affected site on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Laura Silsby, the leader of a group of 10 American missionaries arrested at the Dominican border for trying to smuggle out a busload of children, appeared in court to answer kidnapping charges.

"I am trusting God to reveal all truths and that we will be released and exonerated of charges, and we are just waiting for the Haitian legal process to complete," Silsby said.

"It went very well," she told reporters as she left the hearing and was taken back to the police station where she and her nine colleagues from the Idaho-based New Life Children's Refuge are being held.

Haitians angry over slow aid

Updated on : Saturday, February 6, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE: PROTESTS over the slow arrival of aid have flared in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince.Former US president Bill Clinton pledged to try to get aid flowing here as he was met by angry Haitians protesting the slow arrival of help since last month's quake. Clinton said he was sorry that the aid efforts had been so slow, adding he also wanted to understand why more than three weeks after the January 12 quake supplies were still not getting through to desperate Haitians. Clinton told reporters as he visited a clinic in the ruined capital of Port-au-Prince. But the former president rejected suggestions he had in effect become governor of this small Caribbean nation. Clinton also visited the government's de facto headquarters in a police building in the city, where about 200 people demonstrated outside to protest the lack of shelter. A similar number gathered in front of the US embassy nearby. Participants said they hoped to meet Clinton, who was designated Wednesday as coordinator of international aid for the impoverished Caribbean nation by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. There have been persistent problems in getting aid to the more than one million Haitians left homeless after the 7.0-magnitude quake which leveled much of central Port-au-Prince and surrounding towns.

Haiti death toll of earthquake tops 200,000

Updated on : Thursday, February 4, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE: More than 200,000 people were killed in the earthquake that shook Haiti on Jan. 12, Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive said.

The prime minister said 300,000 people were injured, including 4,000 amputees.

The 7.3-magnitude quake has put the country into a total mess. At present, doctors from some countries and international organizations are orchestrating vaccination efforts against diseases that may spread in the tent cities.

Children are main vaccination targets and vulnerable adults will also get vaccine shots in temporary residence areas which are mostly large tents in open places.

U.S. to resume airlift of injured Haitians: White House

Updated on : Monday, February 01, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE: The U.S. military will resume evacuation flights to the United States for critically injured Haitian earthquake victims within the next 12 hours, the White House said on Sunday.

"Having received assurances that additional capacity exists both here and among our international partners, we determined that we can resume these critical flights," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement.

"The flights are on track to resume in the next 12 hours," Vietor said.

The U.S. military medevac flights have been halted since Wednesday over a dispute about where the patients would be treated and the costs of their care.

Hundreds of patients had already been evacuated to the United States for treatment, most to Florida hospitals, since the devastating Jan. 12 quake in the poor Caribbean country. But Florida's governor had asked the federal government to share the burden.

Suspension of the U.S. military medevac flights has increased pressure on emergency medical teams in Haiti who are working around the clock to treat seriously injured quake survivors, either in damaged local hospitals or in fully equipped emergency clinics that have been flown in.

The White House statement said patients were being identified for transfer, doctors were making sure it was safe for them to fly and that pediatric care was being prepared aboard the aircraft where needed.

The state of Florida was identifying hospitals to receive the patients, Vietor added.

He said Haiti's government had estimated there were more than 200,000 injuries from the 7-magnitude quake that killed up to another 200,000.

Haiti holds US citizens suspected of child trafficking

Updated on : Sunday, January 31, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE: Haitian police were holding 10 US citizens Sunday on suspicion they tried to slip out of the country with 31 Haitian children in a trafficking scheme, a government minister said.

Haitian Social Affairs Minister Yves Christallin said the police arrested five men and five women with US passports, and two Haitians, as they tried to cross into the Dominican Republic with the children Friday night.

He said two pastors were also involved, one in Haiti and one in Atlanta, Georgia.

"This is an abduction, not an adoption," said Christallin.

Christallin said the US citizens did not have the proper documents to take the children out of Haiti, nor letters of authorization from their parents.

The children were aged two months to 12 years and had come from different places, he said.

"What is important for us in Haiti is that a child needs to have an authorization from this ministry to leave the country," he said.

US embassy officials were not immediately available to comment on the case.

Haitian officials have voiced fears that child traffickers will take advantage of the chaos after Haiti's massive January 12 quake to slip out of the country with children in illegal adoption schemes.

There is also concern that legitimate adoption agencies may rush to take earthquake orphans out of the country before proper checks have been conducted to confirm their parents perished.

Haiti's quake severely crippled government agencies and pitched the country into a communications morass.

In an interview with NBC news, a family member of one of those arrested said the Americans believed the matter was a misunderstanding over documentation. They were identified by Christallin as members of an Idaho-based charity called New Life Children's Refuge.

Haitian police chief Mario Andresol said the Americans were being held at the Judicial Police headquarters in Port-au-Prince and that the children had been transferred to a facility north of the city, in Croix de Bouquets.

He said an investigation was underway to determine how the children came into the Americans' custody.

"Now it's up to the Justice Department do to their job," Andresol said.

A document posted online by the group asks for donations to bring 100 Haitian children to safety in the Dominican Republic and for volunteers to take care of the children during two-week stints.

Under the heading "Purpose," it reads: "Rescue Haitian orphans abandoned on the streets, makeshift hospitals, or from collapsed orphanages."

It says the group has leased a 45-room hotel in Cabarete as a temporary shelter for the children.

It also includes a prayer request "for God to continue to grant favor with the Dominican government in allowing us to bring as many orphans as we can into the DR."

Christallin said it was "too bad that it was Americans who have been implicated in this affair, because they are helping us (with earthquake relief), as many countries are."

The United States has urged citizens moved by Haiti's earthquake to show patience in adopting children, as reports emerge that some children have fallen prey to human traffickers, or even misidentified as orphans.

Haiti said its prime minister will have to sign off on every minor's departure abroad for the time being.

Quake-hit Haitians seek a return to normal life

Updated on : Saturday, January 30, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE: Thousands of vendors -- but few customers -- packed the streets of the destroyed Haitian capital Friday as quake survivors struggled to carve out a return to normal life.

Outside squalid refugee camps and the rubble-strewn streets of Port-au-Prince that have been worst affected by the massive earthquake over two weeks ago, herds of merchants shared roads with brightly-painted passenger vans and honking cargo trucks.

"It's very hard -- there aren't many buyers, but there are lots of sellers," 24-year-old Rose Gardy-Joseph, sitting next to a basket packed neatly with colorful sweets, soft cheeses and napkins, told media.

"We have to come here everyday -- we cannot just sit at home. So we come even if we don't sell anything," she said.

Vendors laid goods -- everything from toys, fruit, piles of shoes, elaborately stacked tubes of toothpaste and phone batteries -- on plastic sheets to protect them from the rotting trash littering the roads.

"We need space for a market because everyday we bring all our things and then we have to take everything down again (at night). It's a lot of work," complained Lucrene Alcin, standing amid her supplies of toilet paper and tampons and an array of flowery dresses hung up on the side of a building.

Almost half Haiti's injured may be children: study

Updated on : Friday, January 29, 2010

WASHINGTON: US researchers said they feared almost half of all those injured by the devastating Haiti quake may be children, urging relief agencies to plan accordingly.

A statistical study by a specialist group at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the University of Southern California showed that those hurt in the January 12 quake will likely "include an extraordinarily high number of children, more than 110,000, nearly half of the estimated total."

The study was conducted by Jeffrey Upperman and Robert Neches PhD, who have developed a software tool to help medical service providers plan their responses in the case of disasters and accidents involving children.

Using existing data, the Pediatric Emergency Decision Support System (PEDSS) uses statistical methods to estimate how many of the victims of a disaster may be children and what care they might need.

"Such needs in Haiti are particularly intense, because fully 35 percent of the population is under 15, meaning the estimated total number of injuries (250,000) contains far more children than it would in other areas," the researchers said in a statement.

They stressed that injured children had different medical needs, such as thinner hypodermic needles, the correct doses of children's drugs, and pediatric specialists.

The software works with seven age groups, and applying its program to the population of Haiti it predicted that half of the injured, about 44 percent or 111,000, could be under the age of 18.

It estimated that about 1,000 children aged between six to eight had suffered crush injuries, and calculated how many doses of specific drugs to treat such injuries would be needed.

Canada telethon raises $16m for Haiti

Updated on : Sunday, January 24, 2010

MONTREAL: A televised fundraising drive in Canada featuring Celine Dion and other local stars raised more than 16 million Canadian dollars (15.2 million US) for victims of Haiti's earthquake, organisers said.

Singers including Dion, Diane Dufresne and the group Tragically Hip lent their voices to the event broadcast live on television and radio on Friday night in English and in French.

Celebrities appealed to Canadians to give funds for survivors of the January 12 disaster, which killed more than 111,000 people, left more than 600,000 homeless and laid waste to much of the Haitian capital.

"We have to hold out our hands and help these people, so I ask you to be very generous, to come together for Haiti," said Dion, who made a donation of 500,000 Canadian dollars (475,000 US) with her partner and manager Rene Angelil.

Canadians responded by donating 16 million Canadian dollars in two hours, organizers said. The funds will go to aid organizations including the Red Cross.

So far Canadians have given a total of 83 million Canadian dollars (78 million US) in aid for the stricken Caribbean nation.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on Saturday that the Canadian government would continue to match the donations of its citizens, despite last week fixing a ceiling of 50 million dollars (47 million US).

Also on Friday, Hollywood stars led by heartthrob George Clooney and top musicians held a huge fundraising drive for Haiti live on US television, although it is not yet known how much that event raised.

US telethon raises more than 58 million for Haiti

Updated on : Sunday, January 24, 2010

NEW YORK: A US telethon to help earthquake victims in Haiti has raised more than 58 million dollars, setting a new donation record by the general public, organizers announced.

"The public has set a new standard of giving for a relief telethon with 'Hope for Haiti Now,' and the donations continue to come in -- people can still contribute 24/7 via phone, web and text," said Lisa Paulsen, president and chief executive officer of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, a non-profit organization providing philanthropic support to "Hope for Haiti Now."

The event led by Hollywood actor George Clooney was broadcast by all major television networks in the United States.

It featured performances by Wyclef Jean, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Beyonce, Coldplay, Bono, Jay-Z, and Rihanna.

Internet social networks Facebook and MySpace contributed to funds collection.

The January 12 earthquake has left more than 111,000 Haitians dead and about 500,000 homeless, according to the latest figures released by the Haitian Interior Ministry.

DiCaprio donates 1 million dollars to Haiti fund

Updated on : Friday, January 22, 2010

LOS ANGELES: Leonardo DiCaprio has become the latest star to back the Haiti earthquake relief effort, donating one million dollars to help the shattered country, a statement said Thursday.

DiCaprio's donation was made to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. Former US presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush House have been named as special coordinators of aid to Haiti by President Barack Obama.

The pair established their Haiti fund to respond to needs in the country and improve the quality of life for victims of the devastating earthquake.

"I salute Leonardo DiCaprio for his extraordinary generosity," president George W. Bush said. "This donation sends a clear message to the people of Haiti that America's commitment to helping rebuild their country is strong.

"I thank Leo for setting a wonderful example for all Americans of helping a neighbor in need."

Several celebrities have made large donations to Haiti following last week's magnitude 7.0 earthquake killed at least 75,000 people according to Haitian government officials.

DiCaprio's supermodel ex-girlfriend Gisele Bundchen has donated 1.5 million dollars to the relief effort while power couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie donated one million dollars to Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF/Doctors Without Borders) for the organization's operations in Haiti.

Actress Sandra Bullock also gave a one million dollar donation, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Life back to normal in Haiti

Updated on : Tuesday, January 19, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE: Small glimmers of normal life returned to the least badly affected areas of the Haitian capital with street vendors plying their wares and taxis honking their horns in traffic.

Six days after a 7.0 earthquake killed tens of thousands "it's the first real day of activity for people they are going out to refuel and stock up on supplies," said a resident in Petionville.

Gasoline stations have reopened, attracting long lines of vehicles and people on foot holding containers. Under the hot sun, everybody is calm and uncomplaining as the fuel was in plentiful supply.

Taxis were back in business, clogging the streets with sounds of horns and Bob Marley music.Street vendors sold anything from corn flakes to batteries, toys, fruit and dollar bags of spaghetti, although locals said the price of basic foodstuffs had gone up sharply, as high as twice pre-quake levels.

Celebs talk Haiti at Golden Globes

Updated on : Monday, January 18, 2010

BEVERLY HILLS: Despite being one of the more glitzy and glamorous runways in Hollywood, the red carpet at Sunday's Golden Globe Awards stayed, as A-list stars said they were more concerned about Haiti than golden statuettes.

While stars like Julia Roberts, James Cameron, and Kate Hudson shined on the carpet, George Clooney said not to be fooled by the festivities - everyone was thinking about Haiti. He was using the carpet as a chance to get stars to join his Haiti relief telethon, due to air later in the week.

George Clooney said, "Almost everyone you talk to is involved and I'm using this as a recruiting night, so I'll be going around getting some phone numbers."

Sandra Bullock confirmed that Haiti was on the top of her list. She said, "You're here to entertain, but if it's not on your mind, you're not a human being, but I can honestly say that every single person is trying to put a smile on their face, have a good time and be thankful, but everyone's thinking about it and will be the whole night."

Mickey Rourke said he felt a little odd celebrating while people elsewhere were in need.

Mickey Rourke said, "Those people are over there suffering and we're here drinking and having a good time. It feels a little weird, but it's like after 9/11; you have to just keep moving forward."

And the star of "Inglourious Basterds," Christoph Waltz, said that Hollywood needs to keep moving on, but should keep the Haitian people in mind.

Christoph Waltz said, "One tends to forget over enthusiasm that there is another side to it. That doesn't mean that it should be a drab event here. But not to forget is the important thing."

Organizers of the Globes said they have donated 100,000 dollars to Haitian relief - and with all the A-list networking going on inside the show, there will surely be more money finding its way out of Hollywood and to the people victimized by the quake.

UN delivers aid in Haiti

Updated on : Friday, January 15, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE: The United Nations delivered food and essentials in Haiti on Thursday, just days after dozens of its personnel were killed in Tuesday's earthquake in Haiti, the worst loss of life the world body has ever suffered in a single incident.

More than 48 hours after the disaster, tens of thousands of people clamored for food and water and help digging out relatives still missing under the rubble.

The Haitian Red Cross said it believed 45,000 to 50,000 people had died and 3 million more -- one third of Haiti's population -- were hurt or left homeless by the major 7.0 magnitude quake that hit its impoverished capital on Tuesday.

The quake flattened buildings across entire hillsides and many people were still trapped alive in the rubble after two days, with little sign of organized rescue efforts.

U.N. peacekeepers stood by as aid workers delivered food to hundreds of people waiting in long lines.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said earlier that around 150 U.N. staff remained unaccounted for. He added that he had no news about the fate of the head of the peacekeeping mission in Haiti, Hedi Annabi of Tunisia.

Haitian President Rene Preval said on Wednesday that Annabi was dead. But U.N. officials later cast doubt on his remarks, saying they had no information to confirm it.

The U.N. force, which includes about 9,000 troops and police from more than 40 countries, was sent to the country in 2004 to try to bring stability after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted by armed gangs and former soldiers.

It has supported efforts to bring democracy to Haiti, run programs to disarm militant groups and helped the Haitian police. Haiti has been run by President Rene Preval since May 2006, when it returned to constitutional rule.

U.N. humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes said the world body's operations in Haiti "have been very badly affected" by the earthquake and the loss of some of its key personnel, and it was urgently trying to reinforce its ranks.

Tens of thousands of people are feared dead and many are believed still trapped alive in rubble after the 7.0 magnitude quake hit the capital of the Caribbean nation on Tuesday.

Holmes said he would launch an appeal on Friday for emergency funds for Haiti, although he did not say how much he would request.

Google donates million dollars to Haiti relief efforts

Updated on : Friday, January 15, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO: Google said Thursday it is donating one million dollars and Internet resources to relief organizations on the ground in earthquake-shattered Haiti.

The Internet giant said the money is intended to help with rescues as well as food, water, shelter, and medical support for victims of a deadly 7.0 magnitude temblor that devastated the poor Caribbean nation on Tuesday.

Google also created a Web page devoted to linking people with charitable groups including Direct Relief, Yele Haiti, the Red Cross, and Doctors Without Borders.

Google is also making online mapping and satellite imagery tools available to relief workers so they can better evaluate damage and coordinate responses.

"We've also reached out to the YouTube community for help," Jacquelline Fuller and Prem Ramaswami of the Google Crisis Response Team said in a blog post.

Oxfam and Red Cross videos are spotlighted on the YouTube home page along with links for donating to Haiti relief efforts.

Hillary Clinton says Haiti debacle akin to Tsunami

Updated on : Thursday, January 14, 2010

WASHINGTON: The toll from the Haiti earthquake will be one of the highest losses of life in recent years, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, after announcing she was cancelling a planned trip to the Pacific to concentrate on the crisis.

"This is going to be one of the highest in terms of loss of life in recent years, as far as we can tell," Mrs Clinton said. Haiti's prime minister has said he fears the death toll from the 7.0 quake which struck Tuesday could reach 100,000.

Mrs Clinton did not give a figure, but compared the tragedy to the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed more than 220,000 people five years ago. "The Indian Ocean tsunami was such a terrible tragedy and with such high loss of life. This will be a very high loss of life as well," she said.

Mrs Clinton was due to travel to Australia, New Zealnd and Papua New Guinea. "I have decided to cancel the remainder of (my trip) and return to Washington," she said. "It is biblical, the tragedy that continues to stalk Haiti and the Haitian people."

Mrs Clinton said a good international plan had been devised for Haiti to help rebuild the country after recent devastating hurricanes. "We had donors lined up," she said, adding there was also investment plans as well.

"There was so much hope about Haiti's future, hope that had not been present for years, and along comes mother nature and just flattens it," she said.

She said she, the whole Obama administration and the American people were prepared to do everything necessary to help Haiti, even though there was still not enough information available yet amid the chaos to draw up a "roadmap."

"And we're going to give the people of Haiti the support they need," the chief US diplomat said. "The situation is horrific," she said. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates also postponed a planned trip to Australia in order to help with the response to the recent earthquake in Haiti.

"Secretary Gates has decided not to travel to Australia this weekend and will instead remain in Washington to continue to manage the department's response to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said in a statement.