The Hour

The devastating earthquake in Haiti - which has now killed around 200,000 people, and directly affected 300 million - has had such a big impact on TV personality Amanda Hamilton, that she’s teamed up with The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) to help those affected.

The Scottish presenter is urging fellow Scots to dig into their pockets, and donate as much money as they can, to try to help the country recover from the tragedy.

Speaking about the rescue work that’s taken place so far, Amanda said: “Aid is now reaching the parts it needs to reach, but the problem is it’s such a huge, huge issue, huge problem out there. And it’s really something the UN have said is their most difficult disaster ever in the history of their work, because simply there’s not the infrastructure, (it’s a) devastatingly poor country to begin with, like you say 200,000 people dead, 300 million directly affected.

“And you’ve got to remember directly affected can mean needing amputations, needing urgent medical care, without shelter, without food, without water. It’s not just basic stuff, this is huge, it’s on a massive scale.”

Amanda added: “What I’m here to talk about is the fact that we still need lots of money. Scotland has been incredibly generous, £4 million I think is what has come from this country, but so much more is needed.”

So many children have been left without parents that many orphanages are now having to close their doors due to the huge demand for places.

Thousands have been left without shelter, food or water, and have been emotionally scarred by the horrors they have seen following the earthquake.

The situation is so dire that Amanda is asking people to donate any amount of money they can spare, to try to help the people who have been affected.

“We’ve seen incredible generosity from the US, we saw the effect of the concert over there, I know that there’s stuff happening in the UK as well and people are being very generous, but it’s just a case of keeping the knowledge going that we still have to donate,” Amanda said. “Whether it’s £5, whether it’s £50, whether it’s £50,000 like we’ve seen from some footballers, we still need to get the money coming through.”

If you’d like to donate money to the Haiti appeal, make sure to visit www.dec.org.uk or phone 0370 60 60 900. Lots of other charities and organisations are also working to help those in Haiti too so make sure to check them out.

Watch the Tonight programme, detailing the full extent of the tragedy in Haiti and how the people there have been affected.