How to Help Haiti

Washington’s Blog
Monday, January 18th, 2010

I just donated to the International Medical Corps.

IMC was in Haiti within hours of the earthquake, and has a strong history helping out in previous disasters like the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and the 2009 earthquake in Sumatra.

Unlike some groups that spend much of your donations on administrative costs, the lion’s share of the donations to IMC actually go towards relief. And the group focuses on what is really needed, like food, water filtration supplies, etc.

To donate to relief efforts in Haiti, call 800-481-4462 (24 hours) or click here.

Note: There is much to be written about the threat that the IMF, World Bank and others will try to use “disaster capitalism” to profit from the Haitian crisis. And see this.

There is much to be said about how the U.S. has abused Haiti for centuries and launched a coup against the democratically-elected president of Haiti, helping to plunge the country into instability.

There is much to be discussed about how the U.S. helped make Haiti poor and that – arguably – that poverty led to substandard buildings and poor infrastructure, which made that country vulnerable to a large earthquake.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

There are those who ask – given the use of the U.S. military and national guard – is it a humanitarian operation or an invasion?

But I also welcome you to donate and help the Haitian people to survive this tragedy, in addition to talking about the bigger political issues.

Note 2: If you are donating through another non-profit group, that is great. I have no connection to IMC, and am only suggesting one good group.

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