Private money pours to rescue Haiti

WASHINGTON - From Wall Street to Main Street, Americans opened their pocketbooks Thursday to rescue Haiti, where the toll could rise to tens of thousands after a powerful earthquake crushed the capital city.

The US Chamber of Commerce reported that US corporate aid pledges had exceeded $16 million.

The line-up of companies rushing forward with donations was a who’s who of global industry: Britain’s Tesco, France’s Credit Agricole, Hollywood’s Walt Disney, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Amgen, United Parcel Service, Wells Fargo and Eli Lilly, according to the Bloomberg financial news service.

“When disasters strike, businesses respond,” said Stephen Jordan, director of the chamber’s leadership centre. “The immediacy of corporate contributions indicates the level of concern for the victims of the tragedy.”

The phenomenon was accompanied by a word of caution from the Charity Navigator organization, which monitors the credibility of do-good groups.

“Do not give to the Haiti government,” the group warned on its website. “Haiti is known to be a corrupt country. And news reports post-earthquake indicate that the government is pretty much not functioning.”

“If that isn’t enough reason not to give directly to the Haiti government, then consider the fact that contributions to foreign governments are not tax deductible,” the website said.

One of Haiti’s largest cell-phone providers, Digicel, has donated $5 million to the relief effort and was sending in a team to “assess the impact on its communications infrastructure which incurred damage but is operational”.

Big US finance companies like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Jefferies Group each pledged $1 million for relief efforts, Bloomberg reported. Digicel, Coca-Cola, Abbott

industries, Microsoft and UPS have all donated $1 million or more, according to the US chamber.

The Red Cross opened an account for cell-phone texters that collected $3 million in the first 36 hours after the disaster struck Tuesday.

Collectors of frequent-flier miles got added impetus to use their American Airlines Visa cards for donations with an offer of 250 miles credit for a $50 donation - five times the normal credit.

United Airlines made it possible to donate flyer miles to relief organisations for ferrying people and supplies into Haiti.

US President Barack Obama said the US will commit $100 million to relief efforts in Haiti and that the response to the disaster will require every element of our national capacity.”

SES World Skies, a division of Luxembourg-based SES SA, the world’s largest publicly traded satellite operator, said it was donating satellite capacity on five of its spacecraft to help the rescue efforts.

Satellite networks play a quintessential role in disaster recovery, when speed is (essential),” said Rob Bednarek, president and chief executive of SES World Skies.