Moving the Rubble

As I watched the news with my family this evening, the news reporter was following up on the 7.0 earthquake that had hit Haiti, the poorest nation on the Western Hemisphere. There had been a woman trapped inside the broken rubble of a collasped building. This woman was a filipina. Moving the blocks of stone is a task that must take extreme care and precaution;even moving the tiniest block can bring down the whole foundation. After hours of trying to extricate the victim, workers have not heard the filipina respond. Her husband pleaded to try and reach her, tapping anxiously on the concrete for the faintest reply. The workers are still steadfast in recovering the body since there have been several miraculous stories. Previously in other disasters, relief teams were still able to recover victims after seven days of excavation. These people persevere with even the slightest bit of hope.

 The Department of Foreign Affairs reports that only 290 Filipinos live in Haiti. The Philippine Embassy in Havana announced there are 447 Filipinos residing in Haiti. Altogether, It has been informed that there are 5 Filipinos still in need to be rescued: 3 members of the Philippine Peacekeeping Contingent,  PO3 Perlie Panangui of the Navy, Sgt. Janice Arocena of the Air Force, and Sgt. Eustacio Bermudez of the Army, trapped in the fallen UN building; a UN staff member and a Filipino living in a Haitian community.

Please keep these victims in your prayers, the victims in the rubble, the victims’ families, the families who have lost loved ones, the ones who have died, the wandering children surrounded by destruction, and the relief workers trying their best to uplift this country from distress.

If you are interested in supporting the Haitian earthquake, check out these links:

Haitian rapper Wycelf Jean has already recieve more than $2 million in text donations and is leading a hope for Haiti telethon hosted by MTV and George  Clooney on January 22. Wycelf Jean’s Yele Haiti Foundation: http://www.yele.org/

Lady Gaga on Oprah has generously pledged to donate all the proceeds from her Monster Ball show in NYC to earthquake relief. On January 24th, all merchandise purchased on her site will also fund for Haiti: http://www.ladygaga.com/badromance/defaultdb.aspx

The Philippine Red Cross’ Tracing Program assists those who have missing loved ones in Haiti. Donate to Philippine Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org.ph/

Other links: http://www.hopeforhaitischildren.org./                                                                                                                                  http://www.theirc.org/crisis-haiti                                                                                                                        http://www.unicef.org/  http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/articles/responding_to_haiti_earthquake/