Liberia Raises Funds for Haiti

Residents of Monrovia have raised funds to aid earthquake stricken Haiti, which is located between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, west of the Dominican Republic.

At a fund raising concert on February 6, 2010, Liberians raised L$56,435 and US$892 was raised in cash and an additional US$2,000 was pledged by prominent members of society like former Foreign Minister Lewis browne and ADP Standard bearer Togba Nah Tipoteh.

Haiti was discovered by Columbus in 1492 and inhabited by native Amerindians of the Taino tribe.

In 1804,Haiti became the first black republic to declare its independence.

Forty-three years later, Liberia became the second independent black republic in the world.

Haiti, being the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere has been plagued by political violence for most of its history.

But in January, a massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti with an epicenter about 15 km southwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince, exacerbating an already desperate situation.

An estimated 2 million people live within the zone that sustained heavy to moderate structural damage.

Reports from the CIA website the World Fact Book assess the earthquake as being the worst in this region over the last 200 years, although an earthquake of 8.0 magnitude struck the Dominican Republic and shook Haiti on August 4, 1946, producing a tsunami that killed 1,790 people and injured many others.

The Government of Liberia has also pledged US$50,000 toward the relief effort going on in Haiti.

The funds raising process continues, and those who still want to contribute can do so through ECOBANK account # 10310023522017.