Christella Mislaine Francois (5) and Chery Laurore (9) attend class under tarpaulins. Picture: Charles Eckert/Actionaid

JERSEY Side by Side today launches a major new fundraising drive to help the people of Haiti a year after the country was devastated by an horrific earthquake.

In the first of a series of initiatives over the coming months, Islanders are being asked to donate any unwanted Christmas presents so that they can be sold at a special event in January.

The disaster relief charity, which was formed following the tsunami on Boxing Day in 2004, will also be inviting families, schools, States departments and businesses to mark the anniversary of the earthquake on 12 January by holding a Haitian food day.

Between 200,000 and 300,000 people died in the natural disaster and half a million were left homeless. Almost a year on, the situation is still extremely difficult, with Haitians enduring terrible conditions and deadly diseases in sprawling camps spread around the capital, Port-au-Prince.

• Read more in today’s JEP