Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti and all those affected by the Haiti earthquake. The 7.0-magnitude earthquake primarily impacted the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and is estimated by the International Red Cross to have affected more than 3 million people. Much of the capital was reduced to rubble, the power is out, and many medical facilities are severely damaged.
Church World Service is among the agencies responding to the earthquake. For the most recent update from Church World Service, click here. To donate to Church World Service's effort, click here.
Many of the Church Council's partner denominations also have relief organizations responding to the earthquake:
Episcopal Relief and Development
International Ministries (American Baptist)
Metropolitan Community Church Disaster Relief
Outreach International (Community of Christ)
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
United Methodist Committee on Relief
Week of Compassion (Disciples of Christ)
Cautionary Note:
The previous links are all to relief agencies featured by our partner denominations. We do want to bring attention to a notice from the FBI:
Haitian Earthquake Relief Fraud Alert
The FBI today reminds Internet users who receive appeals to donate money in the aftermath of Tuesday's earthquake in Haiti to apply a critical eye and do their due diligence before responding to those requests. Past tragedies and natural disasters have prompted individuals with criminal intent to solicit contributions purportedly for a charitable organization and/or a good cause.
Therefore, before making a donation of any kind, consumers should adhere to certain guidelines, to include the following:
- Do not respond to any unsolicited (spam) incoming e-mails, including clicking links contained within those messages.
- Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as surviving victims or officials asking for donations via e-mail or social networking sites.
- Verify the legitimacy of nonprofit organizations by utilizing various Internet-based resources that may assist in confirming the group's existence and its nonprofit status rather than following a purported link to the site.
- Be cautious of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files because the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.
- Make contributions directly to known organizations rather than relying on others to make the donation on your behalf to ensure contributions are received and used for intended purposes.
- Do not give your personal or financial information to anyone who solicits contributions: Providing such information may compromise your identity and make you vulnerable to identity theft.
Anyone who has received an e-mail referencing the above information or anyone who may have been a victim of this or a similar incident should notify the IC3 via www.ic3.gov.
