Often, we don't realize how lucky we are to be in good health until we face injury or disease. We may take for granted simple things in life, like shelter, enough food and clean water, hospitals, and schools for our children until calamity affects someone else.

On January 10, 2010, a massive 7.0 earthquake shattered the lives of people near Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. The quake, said to be the worst in Haiti in over 200 years, damaged or destroyed approximately 50 percent of buildings in the worst-hit areas. A high proportion of the city’s 3 million people have been left without access to shelter, food, water, or electricity. Despite all of the death and destruction around them, hundreds of people marched the streets of Port-au-Prince while singing and chanting, demonstrating again the incredible resilience of the human spirit.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that a "major humanitarian effort" is under way. "Although it is inevitably slower and more difficult than any of us would wish, we are mobilizing all resources as fast as we possibly can," Ban said, requesting $550 million in aid. Port-au-Prince is not only in need of water, food, and tents, but medical facilities, supplies, and personnel, in addition to search-and-rescue teams. Numerous countries and international humanitarian relief organizations have begun providing immediate aid to the Haitian community, for example, by setting up field hospitals.

How you can help:

Modern technology is changing the face of philanthropy. Just by sending a text message, you can donate $5 or $10 to a relief organization assisting with earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. As of Friday, January 15th, the Red Cross International Response Fund raised over $7 million through such text messaging efforts alone. 

Donate via text:

$10 to The William J. Clinton Foundation; text “Haiti” to 20222;

$10 to The International Medical Corps; text “Haiti” to 85944;

$5 to The International Rescue Committee; text “Haiti” to 25383;

$5 to The Y?le Haiti Foundation; text “Yele” to 501501.

To learn more about this natural disaster in Haiti and/or to make larger donations to various relief organizations, visit http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/impact/.

Truly, we become a global community in times of crisis. While President Obama stated that the U.S. has a special responsibility to Haiti given its close proximity, many other nations have banded together to support Haitian earthquake relief efforts including, among others, Spain, France, Canada, and Iceland. Three days after the massive quake, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported that American corporations have donated over $40 million to support Haitian relief efforts. Through tragedies like this we find, and hopefully retain, our sense of world community, as well as gratitude for the little things in life we may take for granted.