Hands-on opportunities exist in Haiti right now — and the need for volunteers is expected to grow in the weeks and months to come.

US website Tonic.com has compiled a list of organizations that need volunteers in Haiti. If you have skills that you believe could be useful in rebuilding Port-au-Prince, these organizations may want to hear from you. Click here to also view World Volunteer Web's resources pages.

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Thomas and about 45 other self-described "techies and geo-geeks" and other volunteers met at USC to collaborate on ways to use computers to design improved maps of battered Port-au-Prince neighborhoods, concoct better family-locater services for quake victims and speed more accurate and timely relief information from more closely coordinated data feeds   Visit site

Relief organizations largely say that right now, money donations are needed more than additional aid volunteers.

“It’s a bit of a tough one for impromptu volunteers to enter into the fold,” says Richard Muffley, spokesman for the Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI) in Washington. Unsolicited volunteers may not have the needed training from aid organizations and will still need to be fed and housed once in a disaster zone, he says. “Cash is truly the most economical and efficient way of making a contribution.”

But Mr. Muffley and other aid organizations also say there are still opportunities to be hands-on with Haiti earthquake relief – which, they note, will continue long after the shock the quake triggered this week.

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Sunday is International Children's Day, and this year people around China have one common concern: children in the earthquake-hit regions. We know that many children suffered in the devastating quake but there are still many of them who survived, and they are eager to get back to study and playing with their friends. Children are the most vulnerable group in our community and much attention needs to be paid on them.  Read entry

The best way to prevent epidemics in quake affected areas is to guarantee the safety of drinking water and the treatment of waste. IFRC has paid much attention to that and sent a health delegation to follow it up. Today I will go with the British ERU to Jiulong and Banqiao Townships of Mianzhu City, which were destroyed by the tremor, to investigate where to locate the water purification system and set up mobile toilets in order to ensure sanitation.  Read entry