As you’ve likely already heard, the Caribbean nation of Haiti, the Western hemisphere’s poorest, has suffered a devastating earthquake, the strongest in over two centuries. The epicenter of the 7.1 magnitude quake was just 16 kilometres from the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Just awful…

“The whole city is in darkness. You have thousands of people sitting in the streets with nowhere to go,” said Rachmani Domersant, an operations manager with the Food for the Poor charity.

In the hillside neighborhood of Petionville, Domersant said he saw no police or rescue vehicles.

“People are trying to dig victims out with flashlights,” he said. “I think hundreds of casualties would be a serious understatement.”

“People are out in the streets, crying, screaming, shouting,” Karel Zelenka, director of the Catholic Relief Services office in Haiti, told The Washington Post. “This will be a major, major disaster.”

Needless to say, our hearts go out to the people of Haiti tonight, 80% of whom live under the poverty line. For those keen to donate financial aid, even if it’s just $25, the Canadian Red Cross has made it extremely easy for you on their website (select “Haiti Earthquake” in the designation line). You can even use their Interac system if your credit card is too weighty after Christmas.

PS. If you are worried after loved ones or friends in Haiti, you can contact the Canadians Foreign Affairs emergency operations centre at 1-800-387-3124.