Issues

Homes, businesses, hospitals and UN Offices fell. People were crushed or left homeless and a ‘poor’ nation with 50% unemployment is thrown into disarray.

Reports indicate that casualties have reached up to 120,000 people, with the final figure expected to be much higher. A further 3 million have been affected.

World Vision is providing relief to thousands of affected families, and plans to reach 634,000 people with emergency assistance.

Tweeting from the devastation of the earthquake in Haiti, which hit the capital Port-au-Prince on Tuesday 12 January, are two World Vision staff members.

• Steve Matthews is from World Vision's Global Rapid Response Team (GRRT), and
• Magalie Boyer is World Vision Haiti's Communications Manager.

Steve and Magalie are providing regular updates on what they are seeing on the ground in Haiti. These updates are also available by following us on Twitter, at www.twitter.com/worldvisionaus

The Boston Globe pulls together the best pictures from the best photo journalists from around the world on their 'Big Picture Blog'.

Want to be stirred? Try out these Haiti collections:

• Photos from the Earthquake in Haiti
• Haiti : 48 hours later
• Haiti : Six days later
• Faces of Haiti
• Haiti : Three weeks later

We've seen an undercurrent of people-in-the-know bringing to light many of the challenges that face the people of Haiti and also the agencies trying to help.

Here a selection of the best Opinion pieces that have caught our eye:

• Poverty the root of Haiti's high quake death toll
  (National Times, 14 Jan 2010)
  Rich Fleming, Aust General Manager of the Global Poverty Project, explores the low base the Haitian people were starting from.
  
• Aid delivery is more than tossing sacks off the side of a ship
  (National Times, 19 Jan 2010)
  World Vision staffer Tristan Clements explains the complexities of helping out in Haiti
  
• Haiti has neglected it's young
  (National Times, 8 Feb 2010)
  A revealing piece about Child Slavery in Haiti by former New York Times correspondant, Joel Brinkley

The great people at Relevant Magazine in the US have sought to 'Debunk 5 Myths of Disaster Relief'

Myth 1: Collecting blankets, shoes and clothing is a cost-effective way to help.

Myth 2: If I send cash, my help won’t get there.

Myth 3: Volunteers are desperately needed in emergency situations.

Myth 4: Unaccompanied children should be adopted as quickly as possible to get them out of dangerous conditions.

Myth 5: People are helpless in the face of natural disasters.

Check out the article here, we did and we liked it a lot.

Simple: Learn, Act & Share

Learn

• Daily updates direct from Haiti are available on the World Vision website here
  
• To understand what effect this earthquake has had on the people of Haiti, you need to get your head around the Global Food Crisis.
  The people of Haiti were already on the brink of starvation due to soaring food prices, climate changes, high unemployment and lower crop productions.
  
  Watch this clip to get it:

Act

• Donate NOW to our Haiti Earthquake Appeal

Share

• Talk with your friends about what you’ve learnt
  
• Spread the word on Facebook or Twitter:
• Update your status to include words of support for the people of Haiti
• Link to our Videos & Information pages on your profiles to help educate other