Montgomery County Sends Two Disaster Specialists to Haiti

Montgomery County Sends Two Disaster Specialists to Haiti

Montgomery County’s Fire and Rescue Service is sending two disaster specialists to Haiti to help with recovery efforts in the wake of Tuesday’s devastating earthquake. A communications specialist and a command specialist from the County’s Incident Support Team (IST) have been deployed, and Montgomery County’s Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR) is currently on standby, awaiting orders from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

To date, FEMA has called up six USAR teams from around the nation to respond to the disaster in Haiti. MDTF-1, Montgomery County’s USAR team, is on standby and prepared to depart within hours should FEMA require an additional team.

The Montgomery County USAR team consists of 210 individuals who are highly skilled in urban search and rescue operations. It is likely that if called by FEMA to respond, 80 of the County’s USAR team members will be deployed to Haiti to conduct building to building searches for survivors and victims.

“We all need to do as much as we can to help our neighbors in Haiti who are in such critical need,” said County Executive Isiah Leggett. “I urge Montgomery County residents to support humanitarian efforts to save lives and help feed and shelter survivors by contributing to relief efforts”.

Anyone interested in making a donation can find information on the Montgomery County Volunteer Center’s website at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/volunteer.

Providing assistance to Haiti is not new to Montgomery County’s Fire and Rescue Service, which trained the Haitians in urban search and rescue as recently as October.

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Release ID: 10-024
Media Contact: Donna Bigler 240-777-6507

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Groups on the Ground in Haiti

Below, you will find a list of organizations that are already on the ground in Haiti for anyone wanting to donate to help out the Haitian people in their time of need:

Initial list of CORE Group members who are responding to the Earthquake in Haiti, as of January 14, 2010:

Others are undoubtedly involved; list to be updated.

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Help for Haiti Earthquake Survivors

Help for Haiti Earthquake Survivors

Many of you have likely already seen the images and news reports about the massive devastation in Haiti this week. This tragedy has hit close to home for my family, as my husband is originally from Haiti. I am joining County Executive Ike Leggett's call for residents of Montgomery County to do what they can to help victims of the Earthquake. Here are some places where you can donate to help survivors:

Interaction Coalition
The US State Department recommends donating to one of the members of this coalition of US-based relief organizations that respond to worldwide disasters. Their website has a brief description of each organization, and a donor can choose the organization and be taken right to their donation page:
interaction.org/crisis-list/earthquake-haiti

American Red Cross
You can donate to the Red Cross directly on their website. Or donors can also text "HAITI" to "90999" and $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross.
RedCross.org

Doctors Without Borders
doctorswithoutborders.org

International Medical Corps
imcworldwide.org

For other kinds of information go to the Department of State website
www.state.gov

Statement by County Executive Ike Leggett Regarding the Earthquake in Haiti

For Immediate Release: 1/13/2010

“Montgomery County’s hearts and prayers go out to all those in Haiti affected by the terribly destructive earthquake there. We empathize with the difficulties and challenges faced by Haitians who live in the County who are worried and concerned about their loved ones and their native land. “I urge Montgomery County residents to support humanitarian efforts to save lives and help feed and shelter survivors by contributing to relief efforts. Among the many organizations actively involved are the following: Catholic Relief Services, P.O. Box 17090, Baltimore, MD 21203 www.crs.org American Jewish World Service, 1001 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036 www.ajws.org United States Fund for UNICEF, 125 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038 www.unicefusa.org

Click here for a press release from the Montgomery County Volunteer Center.

For information about Yele Haiti, the grassroots movement founded by Wyclef Jean that is raising money to help survivors of the earthquake, visit http://www.yele.org/about/index.html

Ongoing Coverage of This Tragedy:

• The Washington Post
• New York Times
• The Gazette
• CNN

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