Lani Kai gives to Haiti Relief
The Lani Kai Beach Resort at 1400 Estero Blvd. presented a check to the American Red Cross of Lee County in the amount of $3,700 recently. The money will go to the Haitian Rescue Relief Fund.
“We’d like to thank everyone for coming out and helping in the participation of raising these well-needed funds,” said Lani Kai’s Ken Conidaris. “The residents of Fort Myers Beach and our patrons basically raised this money. it was good to see the Beach pull together.”
During the weekend of Jan. 22-24, the Lani Kai allocated 10 percent of all liquor, food and shop sales and 50 cents from the sale of every beer to aid the Red Cross in their disaster relief fund for Haiti.
Roder Nader, lead singer of Tropical Breeze Reggae Band, lost five cousins during the devastating 7.3-magnitude earthquake which hit his homeland on Jan. 12. He grew up 100 miles away from Port-au-Prince in a town called Saint-Marc.
“My brother and my niece are O.K.,” said Nader.
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According to Rodney Melsek, the planning section chief of N-IMAT-West
for Search and Rescue, the first 10 days of this disaster response included these numbers:
– Total number of live rescues: 132 (by all Urban Search and Rescue Teams) – 47 (by U.S. USAR Teams)
– Number of relief flights that have arrived at Toussaint L’Ouverture Airport: 896
– Total American citizens evacuated by land and air: 10,208
– Total number of evacuation flights:ts: 126
– Total number of bottles of water distributed: 1,641,352
– Total number of Humanitarian Daily Rations (HDR) delivered: 967,710
– Total number of patients treated by US Government medical personnel: 8,311
– Total number of medical supplies delivered: 56,433 pounds
A week ago, Melsek reported through an email that the mission has changed from response to recovery.
“The USCG continues to support Port operations and relief flights continue into the airport,” he said. “One thing that has served in our favor has been the weather. It is clear, warm and sunny everyday here. No rain. Debris clearance operations have begun, mostly with Haitians with picks shovels breaking up and hauling away rubble from toppled buildings. That is a slow process. Issues that still face the recovery effort include providing temporary housing and mass care, long-term medical care and rebuilding infrastructure. These are monumental challenges.”
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According to a Recovery Day 18 news report from Operation Haiti Relief, Florida-based disaster response teams continue to assist in the international response and recovery efforts from the earthquake that struck Haiti earlier this month. Response efforts by the state of Florida to date include:
– On Jan. 15, Governor Charlie Crist issued an Executive Order (#10-06) in response to the earthquake. The State Emergency Operations Center remains operational at a Level 2 or partial activation.
– The State Emergency Response Team has established a Flight Following Cell at the State EOC to track incoming flights from Haiti to Florida. To date 799 flights with 18,363 passengers have returned to Florida airports. Most recently there were 38 flights with 868 passengers on Friday, Jan. 29.
-Florida’s Department of Children and Families has provided services to 6,630 individuals coming from Haiti to the United States since January 13.
– The Florida Department of Health reports that 526 persons have been received at Florida hospitals, 413 have been received in South Florida, 76 have been received in the Orlando area and 37 have been received in the Tampa area. On Wednesday Governor Crist requested that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services activate the National Disaster Medical System and provide a plan to support the ongoing medical and humanitarian needs of evacuees.
– Volunteer Florida is currently coordinating and assisting 41 community and faith-based organizations that are on the ground or providing services in support of the survivors in Haiti. Over 1,300 volunteers from the American Red Cross, Catholic Charities of Florida, Compassion Alliance, The Eagles Way Foundation, Florida Association of Food Banks, Florida Interfaith Networking In Disaster and Lutheran Services Florida have logged nearly 28,000 hours during entering the three week relief operation.