Haiti Relief

Crisis Response Team Activated

The Attorney General of Florida has activated the Florida Crisis Response Team, a group of responders specially trained to provide support in the aftermath of disasters. The teams will be working directly with Floridians who have family and loved ones in Haiti who were affected by the devastating earthquakes.

The FCRT outreach is part of Florida's coordinated emergency response and is activated by the state or at the request of an individual community. The responders will be at locations throughout Miami-Dade County and could deploy to other locations as needed.

The FCRT is comprised of more than 800 crisis responders statewide, including victim service professionals from the Attorney General's Office and other agencies, law enforcement personnel, firefighters, clergy, mental health professionals, nurses, and community members. The responders provide assistance to community leaders in planning short- and long- term activities in response to a disaster, provide crisis intervention training to local caregivers, and provide group crisis intervention sessions for other personnel involved in disaster response.

Communication Centers Established

With power and telephone infrastructure in Haiti inoperable or severely limited due to the earthquake, concerned people are turning to the Internet to connect with family and friends and get updates on disaster recovery efforts.

The Attorney General’s Office has worked with AT&T and Verizon to establish communications centers in the South Florida Haitian Community to help local Haitian Americans and others affected by the disaster access information concerning their loved ones and keep current on ongoing disaster recovery efforts.

The AT&T centers have 20 AT&T phone lines and 10 DSL routers for free Internet connection. The centers are located at:

• Dept. of Human Services Haitian American Senior Center, 5080 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
• Minor League Clubhouse, 1601 S.E. 28th Ave., Homestead

The Verizon wireless connection center is located at the Verizon Wireless Communications Store at 14744 Biscayne Blvd. in North Miami. Twenty smartphones and other technology will be available to make free wireless voice calls, text messages, check Facebook and Twitter, and access other internet and news sources.

Charitable Donations

Florida law requires charities to register with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and provide financial information about income and expenditures, according to the Solicitations of Contributions Act under Chapter 496, Florida Statutes. The Attorney General provided the following tips to identify and avoid fraudulent charities:

• Always make sure a charity is registered before donating and check on how a charity spends its money. Consumers have the right to ask for an organization's financial report and its federal tax identification number which is necessary to claim contributions as tax deductions.
• Don't judge an organization based on an impressive sounding name. Find out what it actually does. Additionally, be wary of emotional appeals and organizations that have only vague plans for spending the funds they collect.
• Never give cash. Write a check payable only to an organization-not an individual. Be wary of organizations that offer to send a 'runner' to pick up donations. Reputable charities are willing to wait for contributions.

Complaints about fraudulent charities can be directed to the Attorney General’s fraud hotline is 1-866-9-NO-SCAM (1-866-966-7226) or through the website at http://www.myfloridalegal.com. Consumers can also contact the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to determine whether or not a particular organization is registered at 1-800-HELP-FLA (1-800-435-7352) or online at http://www.helpfla.com.

Haiti: How Can I Help?
(Source: National Association of Attorneys General)

Humanitarian Organizations Working in the Disaster Region

The most efficient and effective way to help those affected by a disaster overseas is to make a monetary donation to a humanitarian organization that is implementing relief programs in the affected region. There are several different ways to go about identifying such organizations:

• Check USAID's home page for information on the situation in Haiti and look for the “Learn More” or "How Can I Help?" boxes.
• The Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI) has links to various lists of organizations that are responding to the earthquake.
• InterAction, an association of non-profit humanitarian organizations, has a list of responding members on its website. Check InterAction Members Respond to Earthquake in Haiti for a list.
• Global Giving has specific disaster-recovery projects listed that can be supported.
• The United Nations maintains a website called ReliefWeb, which is a repository of information, listed by disaster, submitted by responding humanitarian organizations.

Selecting a Humanitarian Organization to Support

There may be many organizations accepting donations for a particular disaster. Selecting which one to support is an important part of the donating process.

• See some questions to consider when deciding which organization to support.
• Research tax-deductibility issues.
• Review the issue of financial ratios.

Monetary Donations

Monetary donations are the most effective form of assistance because they allow humanitarian organizations to purchase (often within the affected region itself) the exact type and quantity of items needed by those affected by the crisis.

Read about the advantages of monetary donations

Commodity Contributions

While monetary donations are preferred to commodity contributions, there may be rare instances when a commodity contribution would be of value to relief operations.

• See a list of conditions which are necessary to ensure that a commodity contribution is appropriate.
• Read about handling appropriate commodity contributions.

Drug Donations

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), donated drugs are often inappropriate for the emergency to which they are sent or level of care available. They may also be unfamiliar to local health-care professionals and may not comply with local policies. And they may even be dangerous. For more information, see WHO's Guidelines for Drug Donations and http://www.drugdonations.org.

Volunteering

Volunteer opportunities in disaster settings are extremely rare, and are usually limited to people with prior disaster experience and technical skills (such as health, engineering, etc). To register your skills and experience for a possible volunteer opportunity, go to the Center for International Disaster Information's registration page. For more information on volunteering, visit InterAction.

Information on Immigration Scams

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services warns Haitians applying for temporary protected status to be aware of immigration scams. Check out the Fact Sheet provided in the following languages:

• English
• Creole
• French

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