Premier Ewart Brown met last night with Haitians living in Bermuda in the wake of the massive earthquake which has ripped apart their homeland.

Dr. Brown held a reception at his official residence, Camden, where he talked to those who have lost loved ones in the Caribbean country in the last week — and discussed how the Island could help Haiti.

Nuva Salomon-Smith, 32, who is married to a Bermudian and lives in Pembroke, told how seven of her cousins died in the tragedy.

The former Elbow Beach worker grew up in Port-au-Prince and has been watching the aftermath of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake on television.

"My whole family are there," said the mother-of-one. "My momma is all right and my brother and my sister. This is hard right now. I want to visit them but not right now."

Sandy Darrell, 31, said she longed to be in Haiti helping with relief efforts. The Berkeley Institute teacher, who is also married to a Bermudian and lives in St. George's, said: "My parents are from there and we do have relatives in Haiti.

"I have come tonight because I do support Haiti. My ties are there. That's the culture that I was brought up in, although I grew up in the States."

She said family members described to her how they held hands and prayed together as the ground shook. "They are fine," she added. "They have found shelter but I believe part of their home did collapse.

"None of them got injured. The hard part now is getting food and water for pretty much everybody. They are used to getting everything from Port-au-Prince and being that that is where the most damage took place, they haven't been able to get the food and water that they need."

Other Bermudians and residents with links to Haiti attended the meeting. Charity worker Phillip Rego, who has a clinic in the capital, said he was still trying to find a plane to take him and other volunteers there.

"We were there two weeks ago and we serviced 300 people in a day," he said. "That was before the earthquake. It's a setback. People say the Haitians are accustomed to pain but they need a break."

Last night's gathering was also attended by Home Affairs Minister David Burch, Senator Marc Bean, Energy Minister Michael Scott and Minister without Portfolio Zane DeSilva.

Meanwhile, Belco announced yesterday that it would support restoration efforts in Haiti as a member of CARILEC, the association of Caribbean electric utilities.

It will give $10,000 to the CARILEC Haiti Recovery Fund, as will each of the 33 other members, but the organisation has no plans to send crews to help with electricity restoration.

Belco president and CEO Vince Ingham, a CARILEC director, said: "Following numerous conference calls amongst our member utilities, we agreed that, despite the fact that Haiti is not a member of CARILEC, we must make a meaningful contribution to the country's recovery after the disastrous earthquake.

"We feel strongly that we have an obligation to help the people of Haiti get back on their feet by providing financial, technical and other support."

• Donations for Haiti can be made to Bermuda Red Cross, via two bank accounts: Bank of Bermuda — 010-187417-011 and Bank of Butterfield — 20-006-060-663859-200 or by mail to Bermuda Red Cross, Haitian Earthquake Appeal Fund, Charleswood, 9 Berry Hill Road, Paget, DV03.

• The Genesis Foundation is sending a container to Haiti and needs first aid supplies, water, canned goods, non-perishable goods, rope, tarpaulins and the like. The container is at Karriermuir, 41 Pitts Bay Road, until Friday from noon to 7 p.m. Questions can be sent to jadamsosmiumcapital.com or gittegenesis-foundation.co.uk.