Dear Friends,

You would have heard by now the devastating reports of the catastrophe in Haiti. The quake hit the Caribbean island state shortly before 5pm local time (9.53pm GMT) on Tuesday. Buildings hit included United Nations headquarters and the presidential palace. Seismologists said the impact of the quake, measured 7.0 on the Richter scale. It is thought the quake was the worst to strike the country for 120 years. The chief of the UN mission to Haiti, Hedi Annabi, was among the dead which at the time of writing had exceeded 50,000 people. A number of prominent world countries have pledged aid and some countries have already responded with food and clothing.

ADRA Director Bert Smit reports that the situation in Haiti is very difficult. The ADRA office has been damaged, the Adventist University is damaged and the Adventist hospital, while damaged, is in (relative) working condition. ADRA International will have a first emergency team on location Friday, setting up four mobile clinics. The ADRA first response team is flying into the Dominican Republic with the supplies and will drive with 4x4 trucks into Haiti, providing the first wave of emergency response. In addition, 10,000 body bags and 4 million water purification tablets are enroute. Communication is difficult but it is expected that by tomorrow, Friday, we will have satellite coms in place. It is expected that we will have a better picture from on the ground on Monday.

ADRA-UK has made £25,000 available for the first line emergency response. We want to ensure that as a Church we are playing our part to help in the relief and misery of the survivors. I have therefore designated Sabbath 23 January as the date for our appeal. Please advise your respective congregations that collections will be made accordingly on that Sabbath. Cheques should be made payable to ADRA. ADRA also prefer donations online as this will also allow them to add Gift Aid.

Web donations: http://www.justgiving.com/adrahelps

Please remember the Hatian people in your prayers at this time.

God Bless

Pastor Sam Davis