Overnight The Guardian published a piece by Arcade Fire’s Regine Chassagne. The letter appeals to the West to respond to the devastating situation in her homeland Haiti after the weekend’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake in the Port-au-Prince.

“This earthquake has torn away the veil and revealed the crushing poverty that has been allowed by the west’s centuries of disregard. That we must respond with a substantial emergency effort is beyond argument, but in the aftermath, Haiti must be rebuilt.”

Regine’s parents fled Haiti during the Duvalier regime and her first trip to Haiti was only last year.

After the reports on television and in newspapers, Regine has called for action – asking all of us to support the Partners In Health organisation which for the past two decades has been providing medical care, food, education, and sanitary and financial support to Haitians in crisis.