Angelina Jolie jetted off to the Dominican Republic Monday following her short stop in Miami where she joined Brad Pitt and eldest son Maddox to cheer on the New Orleans Saints to victory in the Super Bowl.
Jolie is visiting with Haitian children that are in the Dominican Republic to receive medical treatment following the devastating 7.0 earthquake that hit their country on January 12th, killing more than 200,000 people.
Angelina toured the pediatric wing of Dario Contreras Hospital in Santa Domingo with it’s director Hector Quezada and Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, the son of famed Peruvian writer, Mario Vargas Llosa.
Angelina, along with partner Brad Pitt, where among the first in Hollywood to offer their support to the ravaged country, donating $1million to Haiti earthquake relief efforts.
Angelina Jolie’s foundation is contributing $1 million to the emergency medical operation responding to the devastating 7.0-magnitude quake in Haiti.
“It is incredibly horrible to see a catastrophe of this size hit a people who have been suffering from extreme poverty, violence and unrest for so many decades,” says Jolie.
Adds Pitt: “We understand the first response is critical to serve the immediate needs of countless people who are now displaced from their homes, are suffering trauma, and most require urgent care.”
The Jolie-Pitt Foundation is donating the funds to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontiéres, whose three hospitals in Port-au-Prince were severely damaged, forcing the staff to work out of open-air hospitals. People
BTW,Wyclef some talk about when Angelina & Brad visited in Haiti.
>I think that there are a lot of victims also in people who met them here.
The survival rate will be lost in 72 hours immediately after the earthquake occurrence. There is no time.
I am praying that support reach them as soon as possible.
It is necessary to demonstrate international cooperation exactly for such time.
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt expressed their deep sorrow tonight at the widespread lost of life that has occurred in the Haiti earthquake.
In a written statement, they said:
“We are devastated by the news from Haiti. We will work closely with our good friend Wyclef Jean to support the humanitarian efforts on the island and help those who have been injured and left without homes and shelter.”
Ms. Jolie and Mr. Pitt have visited the island in recent years to assist Wyclef Jean’s charity Yele Haiti.
Postscript The Wall Street Journal
Artists from the world of film and music are responding with charity efforts and statements of support in the wake of yesterday’s devastating earthquake in Haiti.
Wyclef Jean, a Grammy-winning rapper and producer and founder of the charity Yéle Haiti, is in Haiti “focusing on family, Yele staff and response” according to his spokesman. Wyclef, a member of the best-selling hip-hop trio the Fugees, issued a statement calling on people to donate money to earthquake relief through his charity .
Wyclef traveled to Haiti, where he was born, shortly after the news of the quake.
Last night, only hours after the disaster, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, who have previously traveled to the island to work with Wyclef’s charity, expressed their deep sorrow over the loss of life in Haiti.
The quake struck just 10 miles southwest of the impoverished nation’s capital of Port-au-Prince, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Witnesses said they saw dead bodies in the rubble, and heard cries for help.
“We are devastated by the news from Haiti,” Pitt and Jolie said in a statement. The pair expressed the wish to aid in any humanitarian efforts.
To donate to the Yéle Haiti Earthquake Fund, go here.
