News of Tuesday's devastating earthquake in Haiti hit Judith Armstrong particularly hard.

Just 10 days ago, Armstrong and her family were in Haiti for a family trip. Both Armstrong and her eldest daughter work with volunteer organizations in the Caribbean nation, and the family also has two adopted daughters of Haitian descent.

Armstrong, who travels to Haiti twice a year for the Canadian Foundation for the Children of Haiti, has been scrambling to find out how the people have fared. The group supports the Foundation for the Children of Haiti, based in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.

"My e-mail and my phone have been flooded with people wanting to know if we've heard anything about our organization there," said Armstrong, who was in contact with missionaries in Haiti soon after the earthquake hit.

"They got an e-mail out right away saying, amazingly, the Internet is up but all phone communication is down."

A hospital the foundation runs is still able to function, she said. "It has had some flooding but it's fully up and operational."

The foundation's Hope Home, a facility for disabled children and youth where Armstrong spends much of her time when she's in Haiti, also appears to be fine. It is located in a compound where a wall collapsed, but no one was hurt.

Also following the Haiti situation closely are local members of the Sisters of St. Ann, a religious order with a long history in Victoria. Sister Marie Zarowny, provincial leader for the order in B.C., said Victoria sisters have close ties to colleagues in Haiti, where the order maintains schools and clinics.

She said there are 40 Haitian sisters there, along with two from Canada. Zarowny spent four months in Haiti as a teacher at one of the schools in 2006-7, and said it's unclear whether the building she lived in has been destroyed.

So far, it is believed that a convent, a school and a clinic have fallen.

"It's very unnerving not knowing what's happened to our sisters," she said. "It's hard to get anything confirmed."

During her time there, Zarowny saw first-hand the rudimentary shelters many Haitians called home, and how vulnerable they could be in an earthquake. "Because some are on the side of a mountain, they are built on pillars and cinder blocks. There are no foundations, as such."

Transportation is another problem, Zarowny said.

"The streets are very bad to begin with, and with this happening, they're almost impassable."

Bruce Andrew from the Victoria office of the Canadian Red Cross said local staff could be sent to Haiti if needed, but the organization is already working hard in the earthquake's aftermath.

"The Haitian Red Cross is there and active in the communities, and also the Canadian Red Cross and the Americans and the French are doing some programs there year-round. There's people on the ground there, and our focus right now with the locals is to set up some shelters with people who have lost their homes."

Rescue efforts have been difficult, he said.

"They're just getting to some of these buildings, and you can't even really estimate the damage and the death toll and everything else. It's all about just trying to bring people out and help them."

Help is also being arranged through Victoria's Compassionate Resource Warehouse, whose supporters have been sending shipments of goods for several years to countries around the world, including Haiti.

We were contacted by a group within [Haiti] that has fully funded a container for shipment," said Dell Wergeland, who helps run the warehouse facility. Donations can be dropped off the next three Saturdays at Lumberworld on Quadra Street.

Items collected to fill the container will go to an orphanage and a school, Wergeland said. Summer clothing, household items such as plastic dishes and linens, building supplies and school necessities are among the basics being sought.

Also pitching in is Wishart Elementary School, led by the students in Deanna Brajcich's Grade 5 class, who will be making presentations about the situation to other classes.

Donations collected by the students will go to Save the Children. The public is welcome to make contributions at the school.

jwbell@tc.canwest.com

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WANT TO HELP THE VICTIMS? HERE ARE SOME OPTIONS

The following organizations are accepting financial donations:

- Canadian Red Cross

Online: www.redcross.ca/helpnow

Phone: 1-800-418-1111 or at any Red Cross office. The Victoria office can be reached at 250-382-2043.

- Compassionate Resource Warehouse in Victoria

Phone: 250-381-4483.

Dropoff for clothing, household items and more: the next three Saturdays, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. at Lumberworld at 3955 Quadra St.

- Canadian Foundation for the Children of Haiti

E-mail: jarmstrong@shaw.ca

- Wishart Elementary School: Drop off financial donations at the school at 3310 Wishart Rd. Contributions will be sent to Save the Children (savethechildren.org).

- The Humanitarian Coalition (CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Quebec, Save the Children)

Online: humanitariancoalition.ca

Mail: PO Box 65035 Ottawa, ON,

K2G 5Y3

- Médécins Sans Frontières

Online: msf.ca

Phone: 1-800-982-7903 or 416-964-0619

Mail: MSF Canada, 402-720 Spadina Ave.

Toronto, ON, M5S 2T9

Fax: 416-963-8707

- Plan Canada

Online: plancanada.ca

Samaritan's Purse

Online: www.samaritanspurse.ca

- B'nai Brith Canada

Phone: 1-800-274-2310

- World VisionCanada

Online: www.worldvision.ca