Welcome to Laser Pointer Forums - discuss green laser pointers, blue laser pointers, and all types of lasers

LPF Donation via Stripe | LPF Donation - Other Methods

Links below open in new window

ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Haiti Assistance Needed!

Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
5,725
Points
0
OK, so I'm not usually bothered by natural disasters and things like that the way this Haitian earthquake has been bothering me. The scale is simply staggering beyond belief, and in such a poor country makes it that much worse. Port-au-prince may as well have been nuked in terms of the devastation and casualty count. Due to the fact that Haiti is so poor, not a single structure avoided major damage, and it is feared that there are hundreds of thousands dead. The buildings were ramshackle in their best shape, so unlike what would have happened to structures in richer countries, these buildings came down easily and completely, burying untold masses. THEY NEED OUR HELP!!

The laser community might not be big, but if we can do something to ease someone's suffering we can make a difference. Here's a link to The American Red Cross:

American Red Cross

Whether you donate to the Red Cross or to any other Haitian earthquake aid organization, you can do your part to help people who are desperately in need right now. People just like you and me.
 





Joined
Jul 4, 2008
Messages
2,499
Points
113
Yes, I saw the news yesterday night and I was totally blown away by how great the quake damage.

Very sad. I feel for the people.
 
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
3,145
Points
83
Est. 100,000 dead on the first day... this is verydiscouraging. Trying to do my part
starting today.
 
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
4,186
Points
63
Est. 100,000 dead on the first day... this is verydiscouraging. Trying to do my part
starting today.

And it is believed that they might be more than 100,000 ...
I heard it on the news yesterday. At first, I thought "ok well wtf is going on? did she mispronounce the number of dead or what?" then I found out the reporter was telling the truth and I was :( I hope there won't be more dead people there..
 

Raybo

0
Joined
Oct 30, 2008
Messages
537
Points
18
I'm sure with the recent events in the economy other members are having the same problems holding on to cash that I have been having in the past year or so, but I did happen to find a few extra bucks to donate to DRI (like I can't do without a few of extras most of us soft people take for granted?)
So anyway i'm reading the news as always, trying to keep up with what's going on in Haiti and I stumbled upon this story, and I have to admit that I welled up. I tend to think i'm a pretty tough individual (in my mind!), but Wismond is my new insperation (i'd give myself two days max)!

Here's the story......

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – An international team of rescuers unearthed a shop clerk in good condition from deep beneath the concrete and wooden wreckage of a hotel grocery store Saturday, 11 days after an earthquake crumbled Haiti's capital.
Dozens of onlookers wearing masks against the stench of the city's decaying bodies cheered when Wismond Exantus, clad in a black T-shirt and black pants, was carried from a narrow tunnel on a stretcher and placed in an ambulance. He braced one arm with the other.
"I was hungry," Exantus told The Associated Press from his hospital bed soon after the rescue. "But every night I thought about the revelation that I would survive."
Exantus, who is in his 20s, said he survived initially by diving under a desk when the rubble started to fall around him. Trapped in such a small space, he had lie on his back the entire time and survived by drinking cola, beer and cookies.
"I would eat anything I found," he said. "After the quake I didn't know when it was day and when it was night."
"It was God who was tucking me away in his arms. It gave me strength," he added.
One of the man's brothers, Jean Elit Jean Pierre, said Exantus worked as a cashier in the grocery store on the ground floor of the Hotel Napoli. The brothers persuaded rescuers to save Exantus, who has a different name because he had it changed.
From his hospital bed, Exantus turned to his family and said, "When you are in a hole I will try to reach out to you, too."
Earlier Saturday, the United Nations announced the Haitian government had declared an end to rescue operations. Still, dozens of international teams continued to pick through rubble of the Jan. 12 quake.
Saturday's rescue effort started when one of the man's brothers helped get a Greek search team to the site after hearing Exantus' voice, said Apostolos Dedas, a mission leader for the Greek team.
"It is very emotional. It is the best thing that can happen to you when you are a rescuer," Dedas said.
Lt. Col. Christophe Renou, a French Civil Protection official who was part of the rescue team, said rescuers used chain saws, heavy duty drills and hand saws to dig a narrow tunnel to the man and got him water while working to extract him. Renou said the man was buried under 16 1/2 to 20 feet (5 to 6 meters) of debris, mostly wood and concrete.
The rescue teams said they sent two women into the tunnel because only they could fit.
Carmen Michalska, a Scottish woman who is a member of the Greek team, found Exantus wedged between shelving and debris, and a French female rescuer used a saw to cut away the last bit of debris. When Exantus emerged, "He was smiling and he was just really happy to get out," Michalska said. "He said, 'Thank you.'"
Renou speculated the man survived because the building was mostly wooden, which created some air spaces. He said he was not sure if anyone else was trapped in the collapsed store and the team was using radar to check the rubble for signs of life.
"What happened in that spot there is a miracle," Renou said. "We are really happy he is alive."
Exantus said he thought other people might have been trapped when the building collapsed. "There were times I heard rustling," he said.

Rescues have become increasingly rare since the magnitude-7.0 quake leveled the city, killing an estimated 200,000 people. Before the latest rescue, U.N. spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said 132 people had been pulled alive from collapsed buildings. Experts say the chance of saving trapped people begins diminishing after 72 hours.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 9, 2009
Messages
432
Points
0
I watched the telethon last night , and some of those stories REALLY touched me.

I had been saving some cash for a sightfx multi color , I thought about it, realized that other poeple need the money more than I do.

I took a deep breath and I donated my 350.00 to

http://www.hopeforhaitinow.org/


I know it will go to feed or clothe people who desperately need it.
 




Top