I’ll update this post with any new information and links as they become available.

On Tuesday, Jan. 12 shortly before 5 p.m., a 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. According to The Red Cross, about 3 million people were affected by the quake — one-third of Haiti’s population.

In the wake of the devastating quake, more than 100,000 people are feared dead with thousands of others injured or without homes. Reports from the scene say that getting aid to the injured is difficult because many hospitals have been destroyed and medical supplies and heavy equipment are desperately needed.

To help with relief efforts, early response from eBay Foundation includes a special gift-matching program for global eBay Inc. employees making charitable contributions to organizations providing rescue and relief efforts in Haiti.

eBay and PayPal are also responding to the disaster by providing our communities of users with easy methods of donating to the relief effort.

** Buy, sell and/or donate items via a dedicated landing page on eBay.com, with proceeds going to Save the Children, The American Red Cross, and other nonprofits involved in the relief effort.
** Donate to the Red Cross or Save the Children through Give@Checkout. For a limited time, when you purchase an item on eBay.com, you can donate to these charities during checkout.
** PayPal is waiving the payment processing fees for donations to Save the Children for the next 30 days. Links to make donations to Save the Children (which accepts PayPal for donation payments) will be featured on various PayPal onsite placements, including the PayPal home page. Here is the link to the dedicated page.

Based on the tragic reports I hear coming out of the area, I can’t imagine what people close to this disaster are going through right now, but my thoughts and prayers go out to all families and people involved.

-RBH

UPDATED — 1/17/10

** Through Saturday, January 16th, the eBay Community has raised over $373,000 USD through the Give@Checkout and Donate Now features on eBay.com, with proceeds going to several nonprofit organizations focused on the recovery.

** The eBay Foundation is providing $100,000 USD to support the efforts of three organizations involved with relief efforts: The American Red Cross, Save the Children and Oxfam. 

** As of Friday, January 15th, eBay will waive all donation processing fees for Give@Checkout and Donate Now for a period of 30 days, to ensure that 100 percent of every donation reaches the non-profit organizations providing the relief.

** The eBay Foundation has also implemented a special gift-matching program through February 28 for global employees who want to make a charitable contribution to organizations providing rescue and relief efforts in Haiti. When employees make a gift to the American Red Cross, Save the Children, or Oxfam (or one of their local affiliates), the eBay Foundation will match the gift up to $250 USD per employee. Note: This special match will not count against the $500 USD matching opportunity that U.S. employees have for 2010 which can also be utilized for Haiti Earthquake relief.

** Through eBay’s Giving Works program, Sellers can commit to donating a percentage of their listing’s final sale price to the nonprofit of their choice. As of 1/16/2010, over 17,000 listings from over 3,200 sellers, supporting 43 nonprofits that are assisting with the relief effort, were available for purchase on eBay.com.

UPDATED — 1/18/10

** Through Sunday January 17th, the eBay Community has raised over $497,000 USD through the Give@Checkout and Donate Now features on eBay.com, with proceeds going to several nonprofit organizations focused on the recovery.