Georgia relief organizations are rushing supplies to Haiti following an earthquake Tuesday that killed and injured tens of thousands.
MAP International is shipping medical supplies worth $2.7 million to Haiti from the organization’s warehouse in Brunswick, its executive director, Michael Nyenhuis, told GlobalAtlanta. Most of the supplies were donated by U.S. pharmaceutical companies, he said.
The shipments include antibiotics, vitamins, sutures and wound dressings and should begin arriving within days. The supplies will be distributed by a network of hospitals and clinics in Haiti that have been working with MAP for years, said Mr. Nyenhuis.
“We’ve got 40 years of history in Haiti,” said Mr. Nyenhuis.
The group’s relief director, John Garvin, is leaving for Haiti Friday to oversee the distribution of supplies.
In addition to its warehouse in Brunswick on the Georgia coast, MAP, a Christian nonprofit, has offices in Atlanta and Savannah. Last year, it shipped $400 million in donated medicines to locations worldwide.
MedShare, an Atlanta-based nonprofit, launched a campaign to raise $50,000 for emergency medical supplies such as oxygen masks, surgical steel instruments and orthopedic equipment such as splints and back boards.
“MedShare is making preparations to meet these needs, but we need your help,” states a message on the organization’s Web site.
Atlanta-based United Parcel Service Inc. announced Wednesday that is donating $1 million to the relief effort in Haiti, $500,000 in cash and an equal amount in donated shipping for supplies. CARE USA, headquartered in Atlanta, is one of the groups that will receive funds from UPS.
“With hundreds of thousands of people affected, our hearts go out to Haiti,” Dan Brutto, president of UPS International, said in a news release.
CARE has 133 staff members in Haiti and is sending more to distribute food, hygiene kits and water and to deliver emergency health services, said its president and CEO, Helene Gayle.
The Coca-Cola Co., headquartered in Atlanta, has pledged $1 million through its foundation to the Red Cross for Haiti relief. It is also donating bottled water and other products through its bottler in the nearby Dominican Republic.
Haiti’s embassy in Washington urged donors to consider giving cash.
Haiti is an island nation of about 9 million people, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Eighty percent of Haitians live below the poverty line and nearly half the population over age 15 is illiterate, according to the CIA World Fact Book.
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