By Nikara Johns @NikaraJohns
A man crouches on the rubble of the hospital destroyed by the earthquake in Haiti on Aug. 17.
CREDIT: AP
Skechers announced today that it supporting Haiti earthquake relief efforts with a $1 million donation. Over the weekend, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit the country and the death toll has since topped 2,000.
According to reports, more than 10,000 are injured and government officials estimate that 800,000 people have been affected by the earthquake. Aid has been slow to reach Haiti due to political turmoil as well as this week’s tropical storm Grace.
Skechers’ $1 million donation will be given to three charitable organizations that are working to provide Haiti with immediate assistance. Those include: CORE, Hope For Haiti and World Central Kitchen.
According to UNICEF, more than 84,000 homes were damaged or destroyed and over a half million children have been left without necessary food, shelter or clean water.
In addition to the $1 million, Skechers has launched the Million Dollar Challenge for Haiti with outreach through the Skechers Foundation and the creation of the Skechers Haiti Relief Fund to raise more money. Company employees, ambassadors, such as Howie Long, Meb Keflezighi, Brooke Burke and Jon Gruden, and licensees, including United Legwear and Apparel Company, Fossil Group, ONSKINERY GmbH and Floriey Industries, have already contributed.
“As soon as we heard about the devastation on Saturday, it was clear that Skechers needed to step up and help the people of Haiti,” Michael Greenberg, president of Skechers, said in statement. “This is just a kickoff. We are expecting to raise significant additional funds through the Million Dollar Challenge for Haiti — one that will encourage our ambassadors, partners and employees to donate with us as the need is tremendous. We are so proud of our associates and affiliates around the globe. We know that our teams and partners will come through for the people of Haiti whose lives have been upturned. Skechers is a culture of caring and making a difference is paramount to who we are.”
Non-profit Soles4Souls and Kenneth Cole are also collecting donations.
MORE STORIES BY NIKARA
Kenneth Cole, Soles4Souls Reveal Aid Plans for Haiti After Devastating Earthquake
Saturday’s devastation is Haiti’s worst earthquake in a decade. Just over 10 years ago, an earthquake hit Haiti, killing more than 200,000 people and displacing millions of its citizens.
Haiti's killer quake shows the reality of the disaster divide
Bryan Walsh
AXIOS
Wed, August 18, 2021,
Disasters like the earthquake that struck Haiti on Aug. 14 are caused by nature but exacerbated by human inaction.
Why it matters: Natural disasters will always be with us — and some will be worsened by the effects of human-made climate change — but it's well within our power to keep them from becoming mass killers.
Driving the news: The 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck southwestern Haiti has affected more than 1 million people and killed at least 1,941, though the number will surely rise in the days and weeks ahead.
What's happening: Much of Haiti's vulnerability stems from geographical factors that can't be changed — its location in the Caribbean puts it frequently in the path of tropical storms like the one that struck just days after the Aug. 14 quake, while it also sits on multiple seismic fault zones.
But what makes those disasters such killers has less to do with geography than with the country's extreme poverty and resulting inability to invest in preparation and adaptation to those risks.
According to the 2020 World Risk Report by the United Nations University, Haiti ranked 22nd overall in the world for risks from natural disasters, but ninth in lack of coping capacities — the ability to respond to a disaster — and eighth in lack of adaptive capacities.
Be smart: What's true of Haiti is true of the world more generally — what makes an earthquake or a storm or a flood or a drought truly deadly is poverty and everything that comes with it.
That's one reason why a richer and better-prepared region like the Bay Area in California can suffer a 6.9-magnitude quake in 1989 and lose 63 people, while Haiti lost hundreds of thousands in 2010 after a quake that was just slightly stronger.
The big picture: In the early to mid-20th century, the annual global death toll from disasters often reached 1 million or more per year, but over the past decade, the death toll has rarely risen above 10,000 per year.
The decline is even more impressive against the rate of global population growth — even as billions more people have been added to the planet, they're less likely to die in disasters.
And while the economic toll of natural disasters has generally risen over the past 40 years, that's in large part a function of a much richer world having more property in harm's way, with the result being that disaster losses as a share of global GDP have declined along with deaths.
What's next: While wealth is a powerful shield, it's not impenetrable, and climate change is likely to amplify many kinds of disasters in ways that severely stress rich countries — and punish poor nations even more.
Wed, August 18, 2021,
Disasters like the earthquake that struck Haiti on Aug. 14 are caused by nature but exacerbated by human inaction.
Why it matters: Natural disasters will always be with us — and some will be worsened by the effects of human-made climate change — but it's well within our power to keep them from becoming mass killers.
Driving the news: The 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck southwestern Haiti has affected more than 1 million people and killed at least 1,941, though the number will surely rise in the days and weeks ahead.
What's happening: Much of Haiti's vulnerability stems from geographical factors that can't be changed — its location in the Caribbean puts it frequently in the path of tropical storms like the one that struck just days after the Aug. 14 quake, while it also sits on multiple seismic fault zones.
But what makes those disasters such killers has less to do with geography than with the country's extreme poverty and resulting inability to invest in preparation and adaptation to those risks.
According to the 2020 World Risk Report by the United Nations University, Haiti ranked 22nd overall in the world for risks from natural disasters, but ninth in lack of coping capacities — the ability to respond to a disaster — and eighth in lack of adaptive capacities.
Be smart: What's true of Haiti is true of the world more generally — what makes an earthquake or a storm or a flood or a drought truly deadly is poverty and everything that comes with it.
That's one reason why a richer and better-prepared region like the Bay Area in California can suffer a 6.9-magnitude quake in 1989 and lose 63 people, while Haiti lost hundreds of thousands in 2010 after a quake that was just slightly stronger.
The big picture: In the early to mid-20th century, the annual global death toll from disasters often reached 1 million or more per year, but over the past decade, the death toll has rarely risen above 10,000 per year.
The decline is even more impressive against the rate of global population growth — even as billions more people have been added to the planet, they're less likely to die in disasters.
And while the economic toll of natural disasters has generally risen over the past 40 years, that's in large part a function of a much richer world having more property in harm's way, with the result being that disaster losses as a share of global GDP have declined along with deaths.
What's next: While wealth is a powerful shield, it's not impenetrable, and climate change is likely to amplify many kinds of disasters in ways that severely stress rich countries — and punish poor nations even more.
Aftermath of earthquake in Haiti is ‘much worse’ than 2010 earthquake says Ann Young Lee
Aug 19, 2021
Washington Post Live
The CEO of CORE said the destruction left by the recent 7.2-magnitude quake is made more difficult by covid, political unrest in the country and widespread food insecurity.
“It really recalls [the earthquake] 2010 in a lot of ways but in so many more ways it’s much worse. Just the fact that we are seeing an incredible amount of destruction in homes and people that are still trapped under the rubble. To layer on top of that, the insecurity that’s making it difficult for the humanitarian assistance to get in, along with the huge amount of food insecurity that’s been happening that last few years.”
Haitian Earthquake 2021: The human and economic fallout from the disaster
Haiti was wracked by a major 7.2 magnitude earthquake on Aug 14, leaving over 2,100 dead, injuring thousands, and destroying the homes of millions of people across the island. The country’s economy and society were still struggling from the devastation of the 2010 earthquake, and while several other crises have hit the country, the most recent quake has exacerbated problems. See the cost of the most recent quake.
The death toll in Haiti after last weekend's devastating earthquake is now over
2-thousand.
The quake has now claimed at least 2-thousand-189 lives as of Wednesday.
However, over 300 people are still missing.
On Thursday, a U.S. helicopter carrying aid, medicine, and volunteers in Haiti.
Tensions escalated as desperate people tried to swarm the airport to try and get supplies.
Police had to fire warning shots to disperse them.
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