FOR many Islanders the Caribbean will be associated primarily with palm trees, white beaches, rum punch and all the other attractions of a tropical holiday.

Sadly, as we are now all too aware, tropical islands are not always paradises. With the rest of the world, we are witnessing scenes of horror, deprivation and desperation as the people of Haiti count the cost in death and destruction of the aftermath of a terrible earthquake.

Aid for the stricken nation is arriving, but as media reports have explained in such painful detail, United Nations workers, a massive contingent from the USA and charity volunteers are finding it extremely difficult to distribute vital supplies. The devastating effects of the earthquake have severed communications, but even before the disaster struck, Haiti’s basic infrastructure was weak in the extreme.

In some international emergencies the hours and days immediately after a catastrophic event are most important in terms of bringing relief to stricken populations. In Haiti, however, it is essential that, once established, the stream of aid continues. People who had very little before the present circumstances and now have nothing at all must be helped to rebuild their lives for a better long-term future.

As the appeal launched today by the Bailiff, Michael Birt, emphasises, Jersey has a real part to play in the relief effort. Ours is a wealthy community and most Islanders can afford to give generously to swell the funds now being gathered to provide everything from emergency shelter, food and water to materials to rebuild shattered homes.

As has been observed on so many other occasions, Jersey has a fine tradition of responding to calls for help from less fortunate places and peoples. That tradition was strengthened in the wake of the tsunami which devastated so much of south-east Asia when the Jersey Side-by-Side movement mobilised an aid effort which continues to this day.

There is no reason to believe that Islanders will respond with any less vigour to the latest catastrophe – which, incidentally, reminds us just how fragile and unpredictable human existence can be even in this modern age.

There is no shortage of methods through which donations to the Bailiff’s appeal can be made, so now is the time for as many people as possible to give selflessly, to make a real difference and to do their duty as human beings and citizens of the world.