By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Thurs. Oct. 6, 2016: The Haitian Diaspora in the US has begun mobilizing to assist their hurricane ravaged island of Haiti even as U.N. secretary-general’s deputy special representative for Haiti Mourad Wahba called damages from Hurricane Matthew the largest humanitarian event witnessed since the 2010 earthquake.
Today, Haitian-born Council Member Mathieu Eugene will hold a press conference at City Hall in New York City to announce strategic relief efforts to assist Haiti as it recovers from the devastation of the current hurricane.
He will be joined by the Haitian Ambassador to the United Nations, the Haitian Consul General, a representative from the New York City Office of Emergency Management, and other organizations and elected officials, to announce the immediate assembling of a task force putting into place a Permanent Emergency and Disaster Management Organization to address these relief efforts in the aftermath of a natural disaster.
This task force will work alongside medical professionals and emergency responders to help Haiti create a more solid infrastructure to rely on going forward, the Councilmember’s office said in a statement yesterday.
The announcement comes as Haiti’s ambassador to D.C. met with Diaspora leaders in D.C., Maryland and Virginia to mobilize relief efforts locally and as the USAID announced an additional $1 million in humanitarian assistance for Haiti for Hurricane Matthew relief.
In other areas across the country, other groups are mobilizing as well.
In New Hampshire, Haitian Diaspora nationals will hold a “Day of Haiti” fundraiser on Saturday October 8, 2016 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at its 495 Hall St. Manchester. Donations of money, food and clothing will be accepted.
In Maryland, Dr. Rodney Charitable, a Haitian-born pastor in Rockville, is mobilizing his congregation to host a fundraiser for Haiti at the Havre de Grace Haitian Seventh-day Adventist Church, 112 West Montgomery Avenue, Rockville, Maryland.
The event is also set for Sat. Oct. 8, 2016 and organizers will have gospel talent and dramatists from the Washington metropolitan area. All of the proceeds to the Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA,) which is already on the ground in Haiti.
And in Miami, Lex Pierre-Louis, founder of Lex Promotions & Marketing Group, and his team have partnered up with the North Miami-based Haitian American Nurses Association to form the Haitian American Hurricane Matthew Relief Effort. The group’s initial goal in the days immediately following the storm is to gather together medical supplies and equipment in order to assist the ailing victims on the island, according to the Miami New Times.
Sandy Dorsainvil, coordinator of the Haitian American Hurricane Matthew Relief Effort, told the paper that six doctors and three nurses from the Haitian American Nurses Association have already been cleared to fly out to the island today as first responders to start aiding victims.
While they conduct an overall assessment of what else is needed on the island, South Florida residents can help by donating necessary medical supplies, like pain relievers, baby formula, clothes and antibiotics, which can be dropped off at 3333 NW 168th St. in Miami Gardens.
The Haitian Government has appealed for assistance to the international community as more than 300,000 people may need immediate assistance, according to the United Nations.
