Girls walk through a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti - December 2005.

“There is no one, nothing, no medicines,
no explanations for why my daughter is going to die.”
— Jeudy Francia, outside St. Esprit Hospital in Port-au-Prince, in the New York Times

Coverage of the earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, has been ramping up as responders have been able to get a perspective on the tragedy. Of particular interest, the New York Times’ Lede Blog has been compiling breaking news (1: huge amount of info, still being updated, 2, 3) in addition to what can be found on twitter and other sources for news on the ground beyond what the paper’s own reporters send back. Lens has photos from Tequila Minsky, who was in Haiti when the quake struck, and some historical perspective by Maggie Steber, who’s heading to Haiti on assignment for the Times. The Big Picture has a huge selection of photographs showing the devastation. The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting has a special report on Haiti, “Despite Years of Crushing Poverty, Hope Grows in Haiti“, produced last year. And Mother Jones has a piece about the problems caused by looking at Haiti only after disaster strikes, focusing particular blame on the Bush Administration’s relationship with the country (via dispatches).

Additionally: Here’s 6 ways you can help by donating (via Luceo).

William Vragovic - Steve Coddington and his family need your help

This is the story of one man, fighting alone against a giant insurance company, to get necessary rehabilitative care for his young wife, Marian. Please help us, Steve’s friends, save his family. None of us can give him all he needs, but a lot of us can give a teeny bit. Together, we can help.”

Seven days after asking for donations for vital medical care for his wife, St. Petersburg Times photojournalist Stephen Coddington has raised nearly US$8,000, but he still needs help. On April 1, 2008, Stephen’s wife Marian suffered a brain aneurysm. What followed was 6 months of intensive hospital care, care at one of the best rehabilitation centers in the US, and then what has become a year-long struggle against the CIGNA health insurance company. Steve has become his wife’s sole caregiver, the insurance company having denied crucial in-home nursing care and other necessary treatment; they have decided that Marian hasn’t made sufficient progress in her recovery to justify further expenditure. This is a travesty. Now, Steve is asking for help from his community and the larger worldwide community of photographers in his family’s hour of need, all trying to care for his two children and retain his newspaper job. Help Save Steve’s Family.

Each morning, Steve has to gamble – rushing the children to school, barreling through the grocery store for the day’s supplies and bolting home, praying all the while that nothing has happened to Marian in his absence. He is trying to keep his family together and happy and to meet everyone’s needs, but he’s drowning.

In addition to donations, print and book auctions (signed copy of Sam Abell’s The Life of a Photograph) are being held as a benefit for the family. Any size donation is appreciated, either via the paypal link at Save Steve’s Family or by writing a check to “Marian Coddington Trust” and sending it to:

Suntrust Bank
Attention Special Handling VA-RIC-9292
P.O. Box 27572
Richmond, VA 23261

Also, in another tale of the American health care system destroying lives, British fashion photographer Corinne Day is seriously ill and in need of urgent and expensive care in Arizona. Her agency has organized a benefit sale of a well-known picture of Day’s of Kate Moss.

(via APAD and Stellazine)