Belize Red Cross connecting relatives with earthquake victims
Stories of death and devastation continue to pour in from Haiti where a powerful earthquake struck the island flattening its capital, Port au Prince. Relief supplies are beginning to arrive and aid workers are experiencing a difficult time reaching those in need and trapped under the rubble. Latest reports now put the death toll at fifty thousand in the most impoverished island in this hemisphere. News Five Jose Sanchez has been following this human tragedy.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
The dust is just beginning to settle and as the sun came up, the bodies of victims were visibly strewn among the collapsed buildings in Port Au Prince. Screams from people trapped under rubble demonstrate the need for a quick response by emergency workers. Funding is needed for food and medical care. Identifying who is alive from who is missing is a priority as Haitians around the world continue to hope their loved ones survived the tragedy. In Belize, the situation is no different as some three hundred Haitians try to connect with their families on the island. The Belize Red Cross is using its international network to connect Haitian-Belizeans with loved ones.
Lizet Aldana, Community Field Officer, Belize Red Cross
“We are giving assistance to the families that live here in Belize by helping them trace their families in Haiti. What we do is we go through a process that we call tracing. We fill out forms, we gather information from the persons living here as to where their families were the last time they were in contact with them, what was their address where they were living and things like that. Once we have that information it is sent to the Venezuela office to the international committee of the Red Cross. And then that is a regional office for that part of the Red Cross movement and they will forward that to the National Society in Haiti and see how they can trace these people and then give us the information that they have gathered from Haiti.”
Jose Sanchez
“Okay, since we did this report yesterday, how much people have come in so far looking for family members?”
Lizete Aldana
“From this morning we’ve had about thirty persons coming in.”
Isaac Jean Samuel, Haitian National
“My pa, my ma, my son to and my wife all live in Haiti.”
Jose Sanchez
“So no information about them?”
Isaac Jean Samuel
“Nothing; too much problem right now.”
Jose Sanchez
“Your family in Haiti when was the last time you heard from them?”
Isaac Jean Samuel
“I talk to my sister five days ago. After that I try call every time and noh di get through.”
Jose Sanchez
“What brought you to the Red Cross?”
Isaac Jean Samuel
“But now I want know how my family is in Haiti and we try call and no hear nothing.”
Jose Sanchez
“How di you know to come to Red Cross”
Isaac Jean Samuel
“My boss tell me come here. He said if I come here you help me yeah.”
Lizet Aldana
“Here we have a trained psychologist and he is a member of staff here. So we are working with him very closely. If there is that type of news then we need to make arrangement for them to get that type of attention.”
The International Federation of the Red Cross is targeting ten million francs and every association is in full gear with their fundraising efforts.
Lily Bowman, Director General, Belize Red Cross
“There are other national societies such as the American Red Cross who have already pledged like ten million U.S. dollars and they are sending in their teams of medics and technical people to help. There are at least nine medical teams and other well trained teams for search and rescue and forensics and the more technical part of the response that the international federation has coordinated and are going in to the affected areas.”
Raphael Martinez, Communications Officer, Belize Red Cross
“Wave in cooperation with Travelers and of course ourselves, the BRC, we have come together to actually have a telethon this Saturday, the sixteenth. And this telethon will be taking place at Travelers Bar on the Northern Highway. We should be having six phones and we encourage people to actually call in to pledge their support to our brothers and sisters who are affected by the earthquake in Haiti.”
The Red Cross has been targeting the business community for contributions. And today Speednet, the owner of SMART, made a sizeable donation to the cause.
Rohjani Perriott, Public Relations Consultant, SMART
“Smart donated ten thousand to the relief efforts in Haiti that the Belize Red Cross is doing. We decide to do this as part of civic responsibility as a corporate citizen. We think that when something of this magnitude happens in our region, it is—the responsibility is on those who can do to do as much as they possibly can to help those that are affected by these sort of tragedies.”
The spirit of helping others in need is also evident in learning institutions. Belize Elementary School is encouraging its five hundred plus student body and faculty to make donations.
Deanna Nisbet, Principal, B.E.S.
“Tomorrow we are having what we call a casual day when children come dressed in their casual clothing and we ask them to bring a dollar. However, we have pleaded with the students to bring a little more than a dollar so that we can help in any way the devastated people in Haiti.”
Jose Sanchez
“Do you think this is something the other primary schools, high schools and tertiary level institutions should do?”
Deanna Nisbet
“I think so and I think they will an di think that maybe not this week, but next week they will because I think that most schools really put every effort into assisting whenever we can, whether it is Belize or other countries. And I have a feeling most of them are probably already thinking about doing it.”
Lily Bowman
“That is why we reached all the way down to the schools who can encourage their children to at least give a dollar each on Friday. If everybody gave a dollar that would be a very good amount towards the appeal and again, I am urging all businesses, every individual to make a difference in the lives of those people who are out there suffering.”
Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.
Smart customers can send a text message to CARE 2273 and in the body of the text, put the amount of credit they want to donate to the relief effort and the funds will be transferred to the Belize Red Cross. And don’t forget the Red Cross is hosting a telethon from eight to four on Saturday at the Traveler’s Barrel Bar.
