The outpouring of international donations and aid being sent to the poor, dilapidated island nation of Haiti following Tuesday’s earthquake demonstrates once again our amazing ability to unite as a world in times of dire emergency.

It displays, too, our compassion for those we don’t know and probably never will know. It shows our humility in knowing that it could have been us. It even suggests that, yes, maybe we do truly care for all mankind.

Many selfless acts were witnessed this past week there, here and throughout the world.

As we sat glued to CNN, watching from thousands of miles off, we saw others dig through toppled rocks with their bare hands, free survivors trapped for days and administer aid to bleeding newborns and broken seniors.

Like others, we felt the urgency and were fraught with helplessness. But there are key ways to help. Local Red Cross official Rima Bishara tells us that the American Red Cross received about $37 million in pledges within 48 hours of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck the capital of Port-au-Prince, killing up to 50,000 people.

Red Cross officials say this response is greater than that received immediately after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and 2005 hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Americans gave $6.47 billion in hurricane relief and $2 billion for the tsunami, USA Today reported. We seem on track to top that this time.

President Obama pledged $100 million in emergency aid and dispatched 10,000 troops to the region to help.

Altogether, $57.2 million has been donated in the immediate aftermath in an international outpouring of generosity, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Donations included $8.9 million from Australia; $5 million from Brazil; $4.9 million from Norway; $2.8 million from the Netherlands; $2.1 million from Germany; $1.9 million each from Switzerland and Denmark; $1.8 million from Finland; and $1 million from tiny Guyana. Cuba even opened its air space to allow quicker transport of the injured.

The World Food Program received $19 million, including $18 million from the United States. Catholic Relief Services has pledged $5 million.

Many businesses pledged donations of $1 million, such as Bank of America, Google and the UPS Foundation. Celebrities opened their wallets as well, such as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, who gave $1 million to Doctors Without Borders. CNN founder Ted Turner pledged $1 million. George Clooney has organized a two-hour global telethon, “Hope for Haiti.”

We’re proud that here in our community plastic surgeon Robert Gardere, who has relatives in Haiti, has set up a relief fund at First National Bank of Central Texas. The H-E-B grocery chain is also raising money.

Ever-resilient Waco philanthropist Bernard Rapoport, 92, kicked off Central Texas relief efforts Friday with a donation of $10,000 and a characteristically hearty appeal to all others in our region to give.

Rapoport, who is close to former President Bill Clinton, now U.N. special envoy to Haiti, tells us that while he has never been to Haiti, he has heard Clinton speak of it warmly. But he has his own strong reasons for giving, including the undeniable fact that it’s the ethical responsibility of a vibrant democracy so blessed by good fortune.

“Haiti is important to me because people are important to me,” Rapoport told a Trib editorial board member. “It’s especially important when you’re dealing with a country where education is not first and there’s a lot of poverty. They need our help more than a lot of other groups.”

At President Obama’s request, Clinton has partnered with former President George W. Bush to raise funds for Haitian relief. It will require much of us all, now and long after the shock has subsided.