Once again. . . a devastating disaster!

Once again the world has been rocked with the news of another devastating disaster. As the reports come rolling in this morning from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, we all hold our breath in anticipation of horrendous statistics cataloging the injuries and loss of life from this massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake.

And once again, so many of us stand by on the sidelines listening and watching and wondering what we could possibly do to help. It is at times like this that I wonder just how we can live out Paul's commendation to the Philippians for sharing the "same struggles" he was experiencing.

As I write this, we are awaiting more news of a local church-planting organization called Haitian Calvary International Ministries (HCIM) that has been a Ministry Partner of our UK affiliate, World Share.  Telephone contact was possible this morning with Luckner Simphil, the director of HCIM, who happened to be in Tampa, FL, and already he has reported "a lot of church people are dead."  Unfortunately, the main phone lines are down with La Gonave island where much of the ministry work is located. We do know that all of HCIM's ministry work is within a close radius of the epicenter of the earthquake and its aftershocks (see map.) We will try to have more updates about HCIM on our Partners International website as they become available.

One thing is for sure, this will be another disaster that will leave thousands of people in desperate need. For that reason, we have already initiated a relief fund for those who want to begin contibuting toward relieving that need. (Click here for more information.) We will coordinate our relief efforts with our World Share colleagues and do all that is possible to help HCIM and our devastated brothers and sisters in Haiti.