Red Cross Briefs Local Haitian Families

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia's Haitian community is on edge, watching, hoping, worrying and waiting to hear from loved ones.

Fox 29's Sharon Crowley reported Wednesday afternoon from the Ebenezer Haitian Baptist Church in the Feltonville section of Northeast Philadelphia, where the Red Cross called a meeting to talk with local families.

Members of the Haitian clergy and a number of Haitian-Americans living in the Philadelphia area were in attendance.

Many said they're very concerned about the safety of their relatives, saying they have not been able to reach them.

One woman said she reached a relative on a cell phone after any hours of trying, but shortly thereafter the line went dead without them getting any information.

"I am not able to get in touch with my family. I have not heard anything about my grandmother, my aunts and uncles as well as my mother," said one member of the clergy who spoke out at the meeting.

Another urged the public "on behalf of the Haitian people in Haiti, to respond and to come along side of us, to support our efforts, to help our fellow brothers and sisters in Haiti."

One man, wearing a Haiti flag and head scarf, told Fox 29, "Actually, I have six brothers in Haiti. Then I have a lot of nephews and nieces in Haiti. It happened so quickly, so nobody had a chance to escape. So, it just hurts."

Shortly after 5 p.m., the Red Cross briefed the group hoping to get some information on how to reach or find out the status of their missing loved ones.

The Red Cross urged them to get on a computer, go to their Web site and register their relatives names because the organization has sent relief teams and money that way already to, obviously, try to help the wounded and recover people there as well.

Red Cross officials noted that their building in Haiti has been completely destroyed. No staff was injured, and members are now working on the ground.

A lot of members of the local Haitian-American community were next headed to a meeting at City Hall with Mayor Michael Nutter and other leaders to find out what they can do to help from here.