The Haitian disaster in review.

From PEW Research. Understand that the following chart measures the percentage of Americans showing considerable interest in the particular disaster. Only the 2005 tsunami in the Indian Ocean saw as much concern as the Haitian disaster. The tsunami caused more than 200,000 deaths. It is commonly reported that the Haitian death toll will be in the same range. Tonight, as we write, there is a telethon on all major networks. Good for the Hollywood types. Nice to know that they are a part of the human race. Too bad they waited for 10 days to do something of this nature but "better late than never." Just know that us common folks have already given more than $240 million and most of that money is in the hands of trustworthy stewards and at work saving lives and looking for the lost. The $100 million promised by Obama is not in the pipeline, as of yet, and will not be available for several months. The military is there, of course, keeping the peace and doing the work of rescue. A hospital ship arrived yesterday and is caring for 200 patients. Between 2 and 3 million persons are homeless. 80% of the Government's buildings are down and more than 200 U.N. worker s were killed in the quake. Just this evening, rescuers reached and extracted a teenaged girl alive after 10 days of being buried under the rubble of her home.

What a great segue to the subject of American Exceptionalism but we will save that for another day and another post.

Our family gave via Samaritan's Purse. There are many many fine secular and faith based organizations set up to effectively govern your gift - the US Government is not one of those entities.

January 2

Haiti Dominates Public's Consciousness

Nearly Half Have Donated or Plan to Give

.
.