In response to the recent disaster in Haiti, Humanitarian Appeal for the victims is officially launched by Islamic Relief Malaysia (IRM). The appeal is launched on humanitarian ground apart from raising awareness and contribution from the people in this region.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, where endemic poverty, food shortages and conflict are a daily occurrence. About 80 percent of Haiti’s 9 million populations live in poverty.

Thousands of people are feared dead, after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Caribbean country, last Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The country often struggles with natural disasters such as hurricanes but this earthquake is a disaster of an unprecedented scale and people need urgent assistance to prevent many more lives being lost.

The actual scale of the disaster is not yet known as all communication lines are currently down. However, the initial report had stated that homes, government buildings and hotels were collapsed, and people are still digging out survivors and dead bodies from the rubble, some with their own bare hands. The badly affected area is close to the capital Port-au-Prince, which is largely made up of slums and poorly constructed houses, many of which were not able to withstand the force of such a large earthquake.

Majority of the people are afraid to return to their homes because of further aftershocks, and many are sleeping on the streets with no shelter. There are also many dead bodies lining the streets and pavements, raising fears of a health crisis.

Base on the update report from our partner office Islamic Relief – USA, the recent earthquake was the worst to strike Haiti in 200 years. Around three million people are badly affected, many of whom have been left homeless and without food or water. At present it appears that the most needs are for food, clean water, medical care and shelter. Islamic Relief emergency response team from the UK and the US is already been sent to Haiti for further emergency relief assessment on 15th January 2010.

The contribution from IRM humanitarian appeal will be channeled to the victims through Islamic Relief branch office in USA. Currently, a USD 1 million worth of emergency aid had already been sent to the affected areas. The aid distribution is done with cooperation and coordination with various parties including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The updates and the progress of Islamic Relief work in Haiti will be closely monitored by IRM. At the moment, due to the cost and logistic factor, IRM has no plan to send team of volunteers for humanitarian aid.  However the level IRM involvement and participations will be reviewed and decided based on the requirement and progress report issued by Islamic Relief – USA.

Islamic Relief Malaysia (IRM) is a humanitarian aid development agency, non government organization (NGO) with the head office located in Birmingham, United Kingdom.  With 25 years experience of implementing humanitarian program all over the world, Islamic Relief hold a various status in the international humanitarian field including a consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC), member of Disaster Emergency Committee UK(DEC) and British Overseas NGO for Development (BOND) and is a signatory to the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Moments and NGO’s Disaster Relief.

For any contribution and further information on the appeal please visit IRM website at www.irm.org.my or contact IRM office at 03-89486334.

source: irm.org.my