Statement Of Congressman Gregory W. Meeks on We Must Provide Urgent Humanitarian Help To Haiti!

(WASHINGTON, DC)September 21, 2004--Today, Congress is expected to near-unanimously
adopt a concurrent resolution calling for humanitarian assistance to the Caribbean countries
devastated by the same series of hurricanes that wrought death and destruction to many areas of
the United States, particularly Florida. This resolution, introduced by my colleague,
Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California, expresses the sense of the Congress that even as our
country struggles to recover from billions of dollars in storm damage, it must also extend a
helping hand to our Caribbean neighbors who have less resources to recover.

I support this resolution wholeheartedly with full confidence in the generosity of the American
people.

Now comes word that Haiti, a country beleaguered with natural and man-made disaster, has been
hit hard again. After a year in which hundreds of Haitians have been killed in political strife and
hundreds perished in the worst rain storms this island nation has experienced in a generation, and
thousands are dying daily from poverty and underdevelopment, over the past weekend Tropical
Storm Jeanne careened into Haiti, dropping unprecedented amounts of rainfall that produced
widespread flooding and mudslides.

This mornings news reports that more than 600 Haitians have been killed. That number is
expected to swell as the flood waters recede and the country digs out of the debris. In Gonaives,
a city of 100,000 people, 80 percent of the population is homeless and hungry. And the weather
forecasts tell us that two more hurricanes are headed toward Caribbean, perhaps may hit Haiti.

Us Rep Greg Meeks We Must Provide Urgent Humanitarian Help to Haiti!

The United States must once again respond to our neighbor which is once more in great need. I
urge government agencies and non-governmental organizations to do everything in their power
and within the framework of available resources to provide urgent and comprehensive
humanitarian assistance to the Haitian people.

I appeal to religious denominations, non-profits, volunteer societies, fraternities and sororities,
private civic groups, labor unions, and business, large and small, to whatever they can to help
Haiti. Organizations and individuals interested in helping may check with their local Red Cross
chapters, media outlets, or visit the websites of the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID) at https://hurricane.info.usaid.gov/, ReliefWeb, a project of the United Nations Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) at https://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf, or
the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) at
https://www.cdera.org/index.php, to find out how to help and what forms of assistance are most
urgently needed.