Haiti Relief Information

My thoughts and prayers are with all citizens of Haiti as they recover from this devastating earthquake. The United States is already responding through relief efforts, and I know we will continue our humanitarian effort to help the victims in a country that has already seen too much tragedy in its history. My office is dedicated to providing up-to-date information about the ongoing situation in Haiti and will update this page as more information becomes available.

Information for Those Looking for Loved Ones
Information for Haitian Citizens in the United States
Information for U.S. Citizens in Haiti
Information for Those Who Wish to Help with Disaster Relief

Information for Those Looking for Loved Ones

People in the U.S. or Canada with inquiries about U.S. citizens in Haiti may reach the State Department Haiti Task Force at: (888) 407-4747. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, call (202) 501-4444. This line is experiencing a high volume of calls at this time, so some callers may receive a recording. To better handle these requests, the State Department has established an e-mail address as well: Haiti-Earthquake@state.gov.

Please have the following information available about your loved one:
Full name
Date of birth
Citizenship
Time, date, and place of last known location
Any contact information, such as a cell phone number or hotel/church, etc. number where the person could be reached
E-mail address

To post your information on the International Committee of the Red Cross website for people looking for victims of the earthquake, please visit: http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/WFL_HTI.NSF/DocIndex/locate_eng?opendocument

CNN also has a website that one can use to locate relatives: www.CNN.com/haitimissing.

Information for Haitian Citizens in U.S.

Haitian citizens in the U.S. may call:

Haitian Consulate in Chicago

• (312) 922-7122

Haitian Embassy in Washington, D.C

• (202) 332-4090

Haitian Consulate in Miami

• (305) 859-2003

Information for U.S. Citizens in Haiti

The U.S. Embassy in Port Au Prince is working to identify U.S. citizens in Haiti who need urgent assistance.

U.S. citizens are urged to email the Embassy: ACSPaP@state.gov to request assistance.

U.S. citizens in Haiti can also call the Embassy’s Consular Task Force at:

509-2229-8942

509-2229-8089

509-2229-8322

509-2229-8672

Helping with Disaster Relief

The State Department has established a dedicated web page that offers advice for anyone wishing to provide assistance to those affected by the earthquake:

• State Department Haiti Earthquake website

The Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI) provides information and guidance in support of appropriate international disaster relief:

• Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI) website

Haitian Earthquake Relief Fraud Alert

The FBI has issued a fraud alert, reminding Internet users who receive appeals to donate money in the aftermath of Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti to apply a critical eye and do their due diligence before responding to those requests. Past tragedies and natural disasters have prompted individuals with criminal intent to solicit contributions purportedly for a charitable organization and/or a good cause. Therefore, before making a donation of any kind, consumers should adhere to certain guidelines, to include the following:

• Do not respond to any unsolicited (spam) incoming e-mails, including clicking links contained within those messages.
• Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as surviving victims or officials asking for donations via e-mail or social networking sites.
• Verify the legitimacy of nonprofit organizations by utilizing various Internet-based resources that may assist in confirming the group’s existence and its nonprofit status rather than following a purported link to the site.
• Be cautious of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files because the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.
• Make contributions directly to known organizations rather than relying on others to make the donation on your behalf to ensure contributions are received and used for intended purposes.
• Do not give your personal or financial information to anyone who solicits contributions: Providing such information may compromise your identity and make you vulnerable to identity theft.

Anyone who has received an e-mail referencing the above information or anyone who may have been a victim of this or a similar incident should notify the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.