NATCHEZ — The Adams County Chapter of the American Red Cross is ready to help in Haiti if needed.

“We are keeping contact with national headquarters. If (the international Red Cross) needs anything other than the supplies they have on hand, they will call on the chapters in the U.S.,” Chapter Executive Director Debra Davis said.

While time will tell what supplies are needed in Haiti as rescue efforts continue and rebuilding begins after Tuesday’s devastating earthquake, there is one resource the country is in need of right now — money.

“We have a Web site where an individual can go donate funds toward patient relief — american.redcross.org/haiti,” Davis said.

Federal authorities have said at this time only search and rescue personnel, equipment and supplies are being allowed into the country.

The state of Mississippi has a Web site listing way in which local residents can help — www.governorbarbour.com/haitirelief/.

Davis said monetary donations are something anyone can offer, but there are select individuals that could be called on to do more if the International Red Cross calls on them.

“For the U.S., what we can do is donate funds because at this point, they are going to call on their most experienced (disaster relief) workers,” Davis said.

Among Adams County volunteers, Davis said there are a handful of local people with the field experience needed.

Natchez resident and retired nurse Ann Thornhill is one of those people.

However, Thornhill said she doesn’t believe she’ll be making a trip to Haiti.

“(As of Thursday), the American Red Cross is not sending anyone. It would be handled through the International Red Cross,” Thornhill said.

Thornhill said the American Red Cross is a member of the International Red Cross, but it usually aids through collecting and sending money to disaster sites when it is needed.

“Maybe a month or so down the line when things are safer for our people, volunteers could be sent,” Thornhill said. “Most of our people are retired and (the American Red Cross) always puts safety first.”

Thornhill has worked with the Red Cross for 12 years and helped during the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, at Ground Zero and during hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and George, Tropical Storm Allison and floods in Iowa and Oklahoma.

Thornhill said many disasters have common elements of disorder, and Haiti is probably experiencing many of them.

“It’s probably total chaos (in Haiti). There is a great deal of danger involved in volunteering because there are so many prisoners loose,” Thornhill said. “There are diseases and they have no medicine right now, and with the warmer weather coming, (bodies) are going to start decomposing and there are going to be more diseases.”

Natchez resident Lee Jones, and owner of J.M. Jones Lumber Company, said during his experience in the Caribbean, he has come close to the Haitian border, but never entered the country.

“My son got married (in the Dominican Republic) about three years ago and (my wife and I) traveled while we were there. But we never set foot in Haiti. They don’t recommend that tourists go there. They say it’s unsanitary, and it’s not real safe,” Jones said.

Jones said he traveled within 20 miles of the county’s border and was amazed at the poverty he saw in the surrounding area.

“They were living with total and utter poverty before this earthquake hit,” Jones said. “The houses they build are made of tin and with no structural re-enforcement whatsoever.

“(The country has) so many people in such a small area and a history of anarchy that they never get tourism.

The international Red Cross estimated 45,000 to 50,000 people were killed in Tuesday’s cataclysmic earthquake, based on information from the Haitian Red Cross and government officials.

Recovery teams resorted to using bulldozers to transport loads of dead.

The 7.0-magnitude quake struck late Tuesday afternoon.