Purrs 4 Peace Announcement: Earthquake Disaster in Haiti

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck in the impoverished nation of Haiti last Tuesday. The quake seems to have reduced most homes as well as vital buildings such as hospitals, schools and air traffic control towers to rubble. Thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people and animals were killed. Many more hundreds of thousands face death due to lack of water, food, and medical attention. The International Red Cross fears that more than 3 million need emergency assistance.

Teams from countries around the globe including the U.S., Britain, France, Canada, Finland, and China have or are in the process of reaching Haiti to aid in the rescue and relief efforts.

What can we do in the face of such human and animal tragedy?

Dollars are needed to fund efforts. Therefore, donation to legitimate organizations such as the American or International Red Cross, Salvation Army, Unicef, and a variety of others can be made. Most of these sites indicate you can designate that the donation be earmarked for Haiti relief efforts.

My donation will be to an organization that will help with animal rescue and relief since these littlest victims often are ignored. Groups such as the United States Humane Society and the Humane Society International (HSI).

The animal victims aren’t really on the mainstream media’s radar at this point. The only reference to animal victims I have been able to find was on the HSI website which stated: “Humane Society International and The Humane Society of the United States are working with other animal welfare and humanitarian organizations to determine how best to assist animals and people affected by the disaster. We have offered our support in providing care to affected animals. We will post updates as they become available.”

This week we purrrrrr for the victims of the earthquake in Hait. Purr for their rescue, purr for their relief. Purr for their restoration….Particularly those overlooked victims: the animals.

Week 32 of Purrs 4 Peace details are as follows:
• Week thirty-two’s appointed time is Sunday, January 17, 2010.
• Participants should purr for three minutes commencing at 3 p.m. EST (U.S.) which is 8:00 p.m. (20:00 hrs.) BST in the U.K.
• The cat’s human staff should assist their cats with the project by stroking and nuzzling the cat at the appointed time.
• Please post your cat name and the country you purr in at www.confuciuscat.blogspot.com as a COMMENT if you are participating in this historic project. (posting a link to your own website-if you have one-is encouraged.) Or let me know by message on twitter or facebook.
• Posting purrs on facebook ( Acolytes of Confucius Cat or as friend to Alley Mason) and twitter (@ConfuciusCat) is encouraged, since it inspires purring in others, but not required. On twitter please use #purrs4peace in your tweets.

Peace * Paix * Frieden * Vrede * Pace * Paz * Shalom * Fred * Salaam * Om Shanti * Heddwch * Síochán * 和平