Haiti
On Tuesday 12th January a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, including the densely populated capital Port-au-Prince.
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Unfortunately this greatly increases the chance that people will die in the aftermath of this horrific natural disaster. Disturbingly the quake hit at 4.53 PM local time, when the start of rush hour fills Port-au-Prince’s narrow streets with commuters and school children. It probably couldn’t have struck at a worse time and it’s feared the death toll will rise above 100,000.
Slums, hotels and embassies alike have been levelled. The infrastructure, such as it is, has been disrupted and a massive humanitarian aid effort has begun to ensure survivors get food, clean water, emergency shelter, medical care and other support. This includes the not insubstantial number of charity workers already in the region.
Through Belfast4Haiti we intend to help as much as we can by putting on an event at the Limelight / Katy Dalys / Spring and Airbrake on the 31st January 2010 from 3pm to midnight. There will be 50 bands taking part and we will be posting more information about each band involved over the next couple of days on this site.
