From rescue to recovery in Haiti

“We will not try to reconstruct but rather to refound the country, where we don’t concentrate ourselves in one capital.”  - Haitian President Rene Preval

At least 250,000 houses were destroyed by the earthquake on Jan. 12, and about 1.5 million people are currently living in tent camps. The rainy season is fast approaching, and the United Nations continues to state that waterproof roofing and the identification of transitional shelter sites are top priorities.

Aid workers report that families are dividing themselves into groups, with some members staying near their homes and others staying in settlement sites. Officials believe this is because most people believe the only places to receive assistance are large camps.

International agencies, including Samaritan's Purse, are coordinating with the government for the transition to recovery. However, aid workers caution that it is critical to continue focusing on emergency needs, particularly for populations who have not yet received sufficient assistance.

HOW SAMARITAN’S PURSE IS RESPONDING
Samaritan’s Purse has a global disaster response team on the ground in Haiti, including two volunteers from the UK. Our efforts-to-date include:

o    The food surge that Samaritan’s Purse has been conducting in partnership with the World Food Program ended on February 20. On the last day of distribution, the team provided 145 tons of food to 5,791 families—the largest single distribution we conducted since the earthquake. The total amount of food distributed through this project since Jan. 31 is 1,474 tons to 60,601 families/353,646 people in Cite Soleil.

o    The past few days, the team has worked hard to get the non-food items from the second ship distributed as quickly as possible. The total distributed in the past three days is 4,750 sheets of 20’x20’ plastic, 550 buckets, 48 hygiene kits, and 122 blankets.

o    The team in Grand Goave has removed a total of 2,550 m3 of rubble, and two buildings in this area—a church and a college—have been completely cleared of debris.

o    We currently have 170 Haitians employed in a Cash-for-Work program in Grand Goave to clear debris from roads. To date, they have cleared 282m3 of rubble from four miles of roads.

o    The team has completed 149 latrines in Grand Goave and Leogane. The have also conducted 50 hygiene education sessions in communities receiving latrines.

o    We have begun assessing the needs in Titanye to determine how we might be able to help in that area.

HOW YOU CAN RESPOND:

PRAY: Pray for survivors as they mourn the loss of loved ones; Pray for the safety of the team distributing relief supplies; Pray that containers of relief items would be cleared as quickly as possible and get to those who need them most.

GIVE: Make a donation to our emergency relief fund and help us continue our ongoing response to the earthquake in Haiti and to other disasters in the future.

READ: Read Peter Ivermee's blog, as he reflects on his experiences as part of the Samaritan's Purse team out in Haiti.