Freeplay Offers Lifeline to Haitian Earthquake Victims

John Elkington

January 21, 2010

Given the scale of the devastation, it’s hard to imagine anything making much of an impact in short order, but social entrepreneurs have been piling in to Haiti to help in the aftermath of the disaster. Now two-time Academy Award winning actor Tom Hanks, and Freeplay Foundation ambassador, is kick-starting Freeplay’s Haiti Humanitarian Radio Relief Fund for earthquake survivors in Haiti.

Access to information is critical both during an emergency and in reconstruction. Updates from local and international sources is an urgent need, along with water, food, shelter and medical attention. Radio stations are broadcasting and Freeplay’s radios will help aid agencies, the UN and the government get essential information to the population.

Freeplay has a strong track record in humanitarian relief, having been directly involved in the Balkans conflict, post-genocide Rwanda, the Mozambique floods, in refugee camps in Tanzania and Kenya, and the Asian tsunami. With AM/FM and short-wave bands, the radios will pick up both local and international stations, operating on solar energy, coupled with a fail-safe winding mechanism.