PIH's second approach, he said, is the establishment of facilities in Port-au-Prince to bolster emergency treatment and to identify the patients who require more advanced surgery and must be transported to the Plateau. On Thursday night, PIH posted a lengthy list of immediate needs on its Web site, citing concerns related to transportation and supplies.

Marx said that PIH has about 4,000 people working in Haiti, including 100 doctors and 600 nurses. But the figures seem hopelessly slim when situated beside the several million in need and the tens of thousands now dead.

MAKING CONNECTIONS

To facilitate the communication and coordination end of PIH's operation, along with the operation of other Harvard-affiliated health institutions, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative—a University-wide academic and research center for response to humanitarian crises—is working with its partners at Harvard, PIH, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Brigham and Women's Hospital by providing information to them after assessing Haiti's needs.

“We are taking part in a coordinated response effort," said Vincenzo Bollettino, director of programs and administration at HHI.

HHI is also creating a roster of medical and public health volunteers that includes both people currently working on the relief effort and individuals who have volunteered to help, according to Bollettino. These certified medical, surgical, and public health personnel are available for deployment to Haiti when the need arises.

But the most immediate need in Haiti, according to both Marx and Bollettino, is money—the quickest route to supplying the needs of Haitians.

"There is no clean water, which is a major public health hazard,” Marx said. “It’s been cold. They don’t have blankets.”

Though Haiti currently possesses a decent stock of medical supplies and the PIH clinics have an adequately stocked warehouse, resources eventually become insufficient, according to Marx.

COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS

Shellonda M. Anderson ’11, president of the Harvard Caribbean Club, has been working with the heads of other organizations on campus to coordinate relief efforts on campus.

Members of the HCC—along with the Harvard African Students Association, the Harvard Haitian Alliance, the Kuumba Singers of Harvard College, the Harvard South Asian Men’s Collective, the Harvard Undergraduate Council, as well as many more student and community organizations—have their minds set on a tangible response.

Amongst the projects the HCC is trying to coordinate are a supply drive and a benefit concert, according to Anderson.

“I think it’s a question of what is needed right now,” said R. Vanessa Alix ’10, an HAA member who has relatives in Haiti. “People in Boston understand that there is no food, no water. If they can’t donate $10,000, then donating 10 cases of water is a tangible alternative."

"For those who can't give, some people are giving their prayers," Alix added.