Reaching out to help quake victims (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Reaching out to help quake victims

8:54am Monday 18th January 2010 in

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With thousands more bodies unearthed from the wreckage of the Haiti earthquake, and occasional miracles emerging from the devastation as survivors continue to be rescued, aid for the stricken Caribbean country is being assembled on a global scale.

And Bradford has thrown itself into the massive aid effort, with a national co-ordination of rescue teams based locally and a £1 million fundraising venture launched in the city.

Emergency co-ordinators in Birkenshaw are at the heart of the worldwide rescue effort to help survivors of last week’s devastating earthquake.

Teams of trained search-and-rescue experts arriving on the Caribbean island last week were sent by the National Co-ordination Centre based at West Yorkshire’s Fire and Rescue Service headquarters.

With up to three million Haitians affected by the earthquake, and the total of the dead expected to reach tens of thousands, aid groups have been racing against time to reach people under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Heavy lifting gear is desperately needed to find trapped victims, and medicine, food and water are also in short supply.

The 7.0 magnitude quake – Haiti’s worst in two centuries – struck just before 5pm local time on Tuesday, just ten miles south-west of Port-au-Prince and close to the surface.

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, and even before the earthquake UN peace-keepers were there to keep public order.

Aid workers have reported seeing piles of bodies in the streets and children sleeping among the dead, while grief-stricken survivors have been trying desperately to dig people out of the rubble with their bare hands.

The National Co-ordination Centre at Birkenshaw has sent eight search-and-rescue teams from around the UK to help with extensive rescue and clear-up operations.

Teams have so far travelled from Lancashire, Greater Manchester and further south. A team from West Yorkshire has not yet been assembled.

Steve Beckley, deputy chief fire officer of West Yorkshire and director of operations, said: “This earthquake has completely devastated a whole country, so we are keen to help in any way we can.

“Our mobilising staff are highly trained to deal with major incidents and they are working hard to ensure resources reach those most in need.”

Bradford charity Global Promise has set a target of £1 million to help the earthquake survivors. Zulfi Hussain, founder of the charity, says it is working in collaboration with the Islamic Relief and Disaster Emergency committee. A meeting is planned for this week to discuss the fundraising project.

And Bradford-based aid agency Human Relief Foundation has launched its own appeal to raise £250,000 to help suffering families. It has partnered with Oxfam, which will help deliver the donations.

“The funds from this appeal will support vital relief operations and will focus on temporary shelter, restoring water and sanitation facilities and providing medical care as well as psychological support to the affected population,” says Yousaf Razaq, who is project co-ordinator for the Foundation. Yousaf is hoping that Bradford people will repeat the generosity they showed with the 2004 South Asian tsunami and the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.

In a country already suffering such widespread poverty, disabled people are the poorest of the poor and are the most vulnerable in a natural disaster like this, often finding it hard to find essential help and care.

The earthquake left the island with massive infrastructure damage, no electricity, water or phone services. International organisation CBM (formerly the Christian Blind Mission) has two disability community rehabilitation programmes already in Haiti, funded by British supporters. One is based in Port-au-Prince.

In the wake of the disaster, CBM is providing rehabilitation to disabled survivors and their families, including medical care, physiotherapy, nutrition and orthopaedic aids.

The British Red Cross has released £200,000 from its disaster fund to make money immediately available to those already there helping the injured and supporting hospitals. The charity has also got relief supplies for 3,000 families ready, with more nearby.

- To donate to the Red Cross appeal, go to redcross.org.uk/ haitiearthquake or call 08450 535353. Cheques can be sent to British Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Appeal, PO Box 722, East Grinstead, RH19 9AR.

- For more information about Global Promise, e-mail zulfi@gssuk.net, visit globalpromise.org.uk or justgiving.com/GlobalPromise, or call 07802 920642.

- Donations to the Human Relief Foundation should be sent to HRF, Freepost BD3125, PO Box 194, Bradford, BD7 1BR, UK. You can also donate to the Human Relief Foundation at HSBC Bank A/C: 94176294, sort code: 40-13-15.

- For more about CBM, ring (01233) 484700 or visit cbmuk.org.uk