Earthquake puts Haiti In Crisis

Capital city of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, heavily affected

Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, has been hit with one of the most powerful earthquakes.

Slums, homes, schools and hospitals have all been affected by the earthquake which hit the capital, Port-au-Prince. The Haitian UN's headquarters collapsed with up to 200 staff missing reported missing.

All communications have been destryoyed but video footage and images have been sent by journalists and news stations showing the fulol extent of the destruction, showing hundreds of bodies piled in the streets...

A woman being rescued from the rubble

The Red Cross charity says up to three million people are affected and Haiti's Prime Minister, Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN he believed more than 100,000 people had died, and Guido Cornale a rep from Unicef, said it was estimated more than one-in-five buildings had been destroyed.

Estimated thousands of people injuried and affected by earthquake

Thankfully a number of nations, such as US, UK and Venezuela are all sending aid and President Obama vowed to provide "unwavering support" for Haiti for what he called, "cruel and incomprehensible" disaster. Many celebrities are voicing their concerns on Twitter, particularly Haitian Wyclef Jean from the Fugees.

Wyclef Jean urges people to donate to Haiti

His tweeted, "Haiti needs your help..if your in the US donate 5 dollars will go toward earthquake relief in Haiti" and "Please urge your council men goveners etc..we need a state of emergency for Haiti."

The Red Cross and UN are offering support and supplies and Internationalo Monetary Fund (IMF) said it would co-ordinate with other international agencies to offer help, support and donations as quickly as possible.

Haitians have limited medical support so civilisations help each other

If you would like to offer your support to Haiti see below...

HOW TO DONATE

To give to the Red Cross Haiti appeal visit www.redcross.org.uk/haitiearthquake or call 08450 535353

To donate through Christian Aid go to www.christianaid.org.uk/haiti-appeal

To give to the Oxfam appeal call 0300 200 1999, visit www.oxfam.org.uk or call in at a
local Oxfam shop

To contribute to CARE International UK's appeal go to www.careinternational.org.uk

Follow Wyclef Jean on twitter here:- http://twitter.com/Wyclef