World Jewish Relief launch Haiti Earthquake emergency appeal

A major earthquake measuring 7.0 magnitude on the Richter scale struck the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, on Tuesday 12 January. Much of the city has been flattened, leaving this impoverished Caribbean nation appealing for international assistanced.

Go here to donate

The quake's epicentre was only 10 miles (16 km) from Port-au-Prince, and aftershocks as powerful as 5.9 rattled the city throughout the night and into Wednesday. The five-story United Nations building, amongst many others, was brought down by the major earthquake, the most powerful to hit Haiti in more than 200 years.

Three days after the quake hit, it is still almost impossible to accurately predict the number of those that have lost lives or that require assistance. Haiti's entire infrastructure, immensely fragile even before the earthquake, has all but collapsed and power lines, road networks and communication capabilities have yet to be restored. The Red Cross believes 45,000 to 50,000 people have died and 3 million more hurt or left homeless.

The international community's response is already immense, yet Port au Prince's small airport, limited handling capabilities, broken road networks and disrupted phone system present massive challenges to the humanitarian effort. While critique has already been voiced at the rapidity of the response, we have to recognise the enormity of the logistical task required to bring sufficient goods from across the world, for hundreds of thousands of people into a small airport which traditionally handles a few incoming aircraft per day.

World Jewish Relief (WJR), in its capacity as the primary humanitarian aid agency of the UK Jewish community, has launched an emergency appeal to assist those affected by this disaster.

WJR recognises the enormity of this disaster and is already active in assisting the response. We have been in liaison with partners on the ground in Haiti, both of whom had been working with vulnerable communities even before the earthquake struck.

WJR has already allocated £20,000 towards the purchase of urgently required relief items. This assistance will enable our partners to provide over 700 shelter tarpaulins, 280 food packages and 142 water kits enabling over 11,700 victims of the disaster to benefit. Working in partnership with Christian Aid and UNICEF's local counterparts in Haiti, this first phase of the WJR's response is all about saving lives.

WJR will continue to assess both emergency and medium term recovery needs and continue to identify the most appropriate intervention to maximise the impact of its actions.

The scale of our response is inevitably linked to the generosity of our supporters and WJR is grateful to all those that continue to enable us to be proud of the Jewish imperative of assisting all those in need.

Go here to donate Donate Appeal