Here's How You Can Support Earthquake Relief Efforts In Haiti

By Rachel Treisman

Published August 17, 2021 at 9:32 AM CDT

People gather near bins of water in Camp-Perrin, Haiti, on Monday.

Updated August 19, 2021 at 1:38 PM ET

Days after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, the death toll keep rising as do the numbers of the injured and displaced.

Destroyed buildings, blocked roads, the pandemic and now a tropical storm are making it even more difficult for humanitarian organizations to assess the damage and deliver much-needed aid.

Margarett Lubin, Haiti's country representative from the aid organization CORE, spoke to NPR's Weekend Edition from Port-au-Prince. She said that responders need to manage multiple overlapping crises at the same time in order to deliver emergency relief, and spoke about the role that the international community can play.

"I think the need really in Haiti is the funding," Lubin said. "We need the funding on the ground. It's essential so that we can respond to the need, in the midst of all the emergencies that we just described, so that we can really make an impact on the ground and get people out of suffering."

Looking to get involved but not sure how to help? Here are some resources to get you started.

Consult websites like Charity Navigator and GiveWell to determine charities' legitimacy and avoid scams. The Federal Trade Commission also offers these tips for doing your research. (Note: A 2015 investigation by NPR and ProPublica, five years after another devastating earthquake in Haiti, tried to find where its nearly $500 million in donations went and found "a string of poorly managed projects, questionable spending and dubious claims of success.")

PBS NewsHour recommends these organizations: UNICEF, Project HOPE, Hope for Haiti, Save the Children, World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, The Greater Miami Jewish Federation's relief fund and Operation Helping Hands from The United Way and the Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald.

These are some of the other organizations highly rated by Charity Navigator: Direct Relief, Haitian Health Foundation, International Relief Teams, Medical Teams International, Project HOPE, Team Rubicon and Americares.

CNN's "Impact Your World" has compiled a list of organizations accepting donations for Haiti.

This piece first appeared on the Morning Edition live blog.

Corrected: August 18, 2021 at 11:00 PM CDT

An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed a list of suggested charities to GiveWell. The list was actually highly rated groups from Charity Navigator.