More than a week since the cataclysmic earthquake that uprooted the very foundation of life in Haiti, stories of death and destruction coming out of the French-speaking Caribbean country still befuddle the mind.

Equally, tales of survival and the effort to bring relief in these dark hours have engaged the human emotion in a way not seen in recent times.

Prior to this great human tragedy, little attention had been paid to the widespread suffering of Haiti's nine million people. But such is the way of mankind that it often takes a tragedy to bring out the best in us.

The reality is that this catastrophe is upon all of us, and as good citizens of the world we have a moral duty to play our part in the wholesale reconstruction of this island nation, now experiencing hell in real time.

Obviously food, water, health care, shelter and other basic necessities must take priority at this time. But crucially also, we must lift spirits in an environment of dire hopelessness as part of the overall fix.

Sports and entertainment, in normal circumstances, have served this purpose well.

With no empirical data available at this time to accurately measure the impact on sport infrastructure in the wake of the deadly 7.0-magnitude earthquake, we can only assume the worst.

One sport, football -- through its world body FIFA -- was quick on the ground.

Captain Horace Burrell, president of the Jamaica Football Federation and a member of FIFA's Disciplinary Committee, led a fact-finding mission to Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince and found that more than 30 football officials -- including the head coach of the senior men's team Mr Alix Avin -- have been confirmed dead.

In a heart-wrenching report to FIFA, Captain Burrell claimed that more than "20 other football workers remained trapped in the rubble of the three-storey Haitian Football Federation (HFF) building".

Dozens more -- including coaches, players, medical personnel and office staff -- are unaccounted for in the wider disaster area, the report added.

We are moved by the story in yesterday's edition that the president of the HFF, Dr Yves Jean Bart, who was seriously injured, was back on the job the following day after his close shave with death.

But such is the resilience of the Haitian people who have had a storied past coping with disasters -- man-made and natural.

At this distance, it's clear that Haiti's overall sport machinery has taken a significant blow, but we take heart by the quick response of international sport.

Through various initiatives -- involving football, tennis, basketball, American football, cricket, motor racing, golf, baseball, to name a few -- millions of US dollars have already been raised to help with ongoing relief efforts in the stricken country.

It gives us hope that influential sports organisations -- along with the wider international community -- will play their part in even more sustained ways in rebuilding the shattered sport infrastructure and the country on a whole.

We are well aware of the unifying power of sport and its attendant potential to open doors for its athletes for a better life, especially in places like Haiti and Jamaica where opportunities for the poor can be few and far between.

Our prayers are with our friends and neighbours in Haiti. We dare not forget that this disaster could have easily been Jamaica's.

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