The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, along with the rest of Brooklyn and New York City, extends its heartfelt sympathies to the victims and their families devastated by Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti – the strongest in the country in more than two centuries.  It is estimated that the 7.0 magnitude earthquake will affect up to 3 million people, more than a third of the nation’s nearly 9 million inhabitants. Through our collective efforts, we can provide some measure of comfort as well as critical assistance to the affected families and businesses in Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince.  Please use the links and information on this page to learn about ways to help. 

How You Can Help

American Red Cross in Greater New York – Brooklyn Chapter: http://www.nyredcross.org/

Office of the Mayor of the City of New York: http://www.nyc.gov/html/fund/html/home/home.shtml

New York Haitian Earthquake Family Resource Center: Click here to read announcement from Mayor and Governor

The White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/haitiearthquake

Share Your Haiti Relief Events and News
We encourage Brooklyn Chamber Members and others to submit your events supporting Haitian earthquake survivors directly to the Brooklyn Chamber’s community calendar at ibrooklyn.com by clicking here.  Your long-term, ongoing initiatives to support Haiti are also of interest to us.  Please submit your press releases via email to brooklynsprogress@brooklynchamber.com.

Beware of Online Fraud
The Haiti relief effort surely will be an ongoing one.  In making decisions about which organizations and efforts to support, take steps to ensure you are dealing with legitimate organizations and groups, including those you may come into contact with through the Internet:

• Avoid visiting untrusted Web sites.  Be aware of fraudulent Web sites and domain names that redirect users to malicious Web sites soliciting donations for seemingly charitable purposes, attempting to collect personal information through phishing scams and also spreading malware to unsuspecting users.  While some of these sites and messages may be legitimate, many are not. 
• Avoid opening email messages and attachments that claim to contain video, photos, or other information relating to relief solicitation for Haitian earthquake survivors.  In addition to fraudulent Web sites, opportunists may use this most recent disaster as a vehicle for other types of online attacks.  For example, email messages that claim to contain attachments with photos, video, or other information about Haiti may actually contain viruses, worms, or other malware.  When a message containing a request for donations for these victims appears, do not respond unless you are certain it is a valid message. 
• Validate the relief fund or charity through a known reliable entity such as the Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI): http://www.cidi.org/.
• Follow standard best practices for email and Web browsing security.