Haiti, still reeling from a 7.0 magnitude earthquake on Jan. 12, is slowly moving from the rescue phase to the recovery phase, but all groups working there say it will take years, if not decades, to completely erase signs of the devastation.
The death toll is now estimated to be nearly 200,000, with as many as 1-million people displaced. Haiti is a poor nation, so “recovery” is something of a relative term. Many are hoping that what existed before in Haiti is not simply re-built, but completely re-imagined.
But even that re-imagining may be months away. Area hospitals remain out of basic medical items, such as bandages and antibiotics. There are many victims with head injuries from falling debris, and many broken bones.
MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) has deployed a new KODIAK airplane and four crew members to join its fleet of three aircraft already serving the relief effort. The KODIAK, which can carry more cargo and passengers than the Cessna planes currently in use in Haiti, will support the MAF relief efforts. The KODIAK runs on jet fuel, which is more readily available than costly aviation gasoline, or “avgas,” which fuels Cessnas and is in short supply in Haiti.
MAF, which has been serving in Haiti for 23 years, has set up a Port-au-Prince communications center connected to a GATR VSAT satellite system, supplying direly needed high-bandwidth communications to workers from at least 16 international aid groups. The ministry is also helping coordinate the arrival and distribution of relief through its hangar at the airport.
The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team of crisis-trained chaplains has also deployed to Haiti. An assessment team is now on the ground in Haiti and is discerning how best to meet the needs of the victims.
“Chaplains arrived yesterday in Haiti to assess the level of need and to determine how to best provide emotional and spiritual care in the aftermath of the tragic earthquake that devastated the impoverished country,” said Jack Munday, director of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team. The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team has deployed in coordination with Samaritan's Purse, the international relief organization headed by Franklin Graham, who is also president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Together, the two groups will meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of those who have been affected by the earthquake.
Powerful aftershocks continue, even weeks after the original earthquake. Haiti, by virtue of its location and its overwhelming poverty, is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters. Before the earthquake, people were still struggling to recover from the devastation caused by a succession of tropical storms that struck Haiti in 2008, killing hundreds, causing floods, destroying crops and leaving thousands homeless.
Despite the devastation, some organizations are focusing on the future. The Fuller Center for Housing is inviting all churches to sponsor a home in Haiti as part of its plans to establish a long-term recovery effort there.
The Fuller Center, a nonprofit ecumenical Christian housing ministry with covenant partners in 61 locations throughout the U.S. and 17 countries in the world, partners with low-income families to build and renovate homes.
The Haiti initiative will rebuild as many homes for earthquake victims as can be funded. The Fuller Center is partnering with Lazarian World Homes, a non-profit organization based in California providing a unique design just for Haiti - a one-room 16' x 16' fire, earthquake, and hurricane-resistant home which can be constructed for just $3,000.
“The need to respond to the heartbreaking tragedy that hit Haiti is daunting. We invite every church to take this chance to help,” Fuller Center President David Snell says.
Churches are already getting involved. The Fuller Center signed a partnership agreement and will be working side-by-side with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, creating volunteer and house- building opportunities in Haiti. The assistance and support of faith-based organizations from denominations like Assemblies of God, Mennonites and the Church of the Nazarene helped get this initiative off the ground.
Meanwhile, fundraising continues in the United States. Experts now say that more money has been given by Americans to Haiti relief than was given to tsunami relief five years ago. In march, hundreds of thousands of American teens will go hungry in an effort to help Haiti quake survivors and fight global hunger through World Vision's 30-Hour Famine. This year, a portion of funds raised by 30-Hour Famine groups will go toward Haiti's long-term recovery.
Pat Rhoads, World Vision's 30-Hour Famine Manager says, “I'm really excited and grateful that teens here can have a direct impact on teens and children in Haiti. Many wish they could go there and help the people of Haiti. This is a way to directly help them, even if they can't make the trip.”
World Vision has been working in Haiti for more than thirty years. This year, in addition to addressing immediate relief needs, 30-Hour Famine funds will be spent on long-term needs in Haiti such as food rations to children and mothers and HIV-positive adults, fruit trees, small-scale drip irrigation, guinea fowl and pigs, construction of eight new clinics (serving 55,000) and a new pharmacy, immunizations and more.
Since 1992, students have raised more than $130 million worldwide. In 2009, 30-Hour Famine raised close to $11 million. This year's goal is to raise $12 million.
Lutheran World Relief has also pledged a long-term commitment in Haiti of at least three to five years, focusing mainly on underserved rural areas outside Port-au-Prince. The earthquake also affected many of these areas, and even those communities that did not sustain damage in the quake will be strained by the anticipated migration of hundreds of thousands of people leaving the Port-au-Prince area. The northern department of Artibonite, where LWR has worked for 14 years, is seeing the largest influx of migrants from Port-au- Prince, putting a significant strain on an area with already limited resources and infrastructure.
Working with local partners and communities in this long term rehabilitation phase, LWR will help communities restore damaged infrastructure, regain agricultural production, strengthen local organizations so that they can respond to future disasters, and help people in underserved rural communities rebuild their livelihoods.
“The road to recovery for the people of Haiti will be a long one and the work is just beginning," adds Nunes. "Lutheran World Relief is committed to seeing this work through and helping the people of Haiti grow stronger and more self-sufficient."
Haiti, still reeling from a 7.0 magnitude earthquake on Jan. 12, is slowly moving from the rescue phase to the recovery phase, but all groups working there say it will take years, if not decades, to completely erase signs of the devastation.
The death toll is now estimated to be nearly 200,000, with as many as 1-million people displaced. Haiti is a poor nation, so “recovery” is something of a relative term. Many are hoping that what existed before in Haiti is not simply re-built, but completely re-imagined.
But even that re-imagining may be months away. Area hospitals remain out of basic medical items, such as bandages and antibiotics. There are many victims with head injuries from falling debris, and many broken bones.
MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) has deployed a new KODIAK airplane and four crew members to join its fleet of three aircraft already serving the relief effort. The KODIAK, which can carry more cargo and passengers than the Cessna planes currently in use in Haiti, will support the MAF relief efforts. The KODIAK runs on jet fuel, which is more readily available than costly aviation gasoline, or “avgas,” which fuels Cessnas and is in short supply in Haiti.
MAF, which has been serving in Haiti for 23 years, has set up a Port-au-Prince communications center connected to a GATR VSAT satellite system, supplying direly needed high-bandwidth communications to workers from at least 16 international aid groups. The ministry is also helping coordinate the arrival and distribution of relief through its hangar at the airport.
The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team of crisis-trained chaplains has also deployed to Haiti. An assessment team is now on the ground in Haiti and is discerning how best to meet the needs of the victims.
“Chaplains arrived yesterday in Haiti to assess the level of need and to determine how to best provide emotional and spiritual care in the aftermath of the tragic earthquake that devastated the impoverished country,” said Jack Munday, director of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team. The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team has deployed in coordination with Samaritan's Purse, the international relief organization headed by Franklin Graham, who is also president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Together, the two groups will meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of those who have been affected by the earthquake.
Powerful aftershocks continue, even weeks after the original earthquake. Haiti, by virtue of its location and its overwhelming poverty, is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters. Before the earthquake, people were still struggling to recover from the devastation caused by a succession of tropical storms that struck Haiti in 2008, killing hundreds, causing floods, destroying crops and leaving thousands homeless.
Despite the devastation, some organizations are focusing on the future. The Fuller Center for Housing is inviting all churches to sponsor a home in Haiti as part of its plans to establish a long-term recovery effort there.
The Fuller Center, a nonprofit ecumenical Christian housing ministry with covenant partners in 61 locations throughout the U.S. and 17 countries in the world, partners with low-income families to build and renovate homes.
The Haiti initiative will rebuild as many homes for earthquake victims as can be funded. The Fuller Center is partnering with Lazarian World Homes, a non-profit organization based in California providing a unique design just for Haiti - a one-room 16' x 16' fire, earthquake, and hurricane-resistant home which can be constructed for just $3,000.
“The need to respond to the heartbreaking tragedy that hit Haiti is daunting. We invite every church to take this chance to help,” Fuller Center President David Snell says.
Churches are already getting involved. The Fuller Center signed a partnership agreement and will be working side-by-side with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, creating volunteer and house- building opportunities in Haiti. The assistance and support of faith-based organizations from denominations like Assemblies of God, Mennonites and the Church of the Nazarene helped get this initiative off the ground.
Meanwhile, fundraising continues in the United States. Experts now say that more money has been given by Americans to Haiti relief than was given to tsunami relief five years ago. In march, hundreds of thousands of American teens will go hungry in an effort to help Haiti quake survivors and fight global hunger through World Vision's 30-Hour Famine. This year, a portion of funds raised by 30-Hour Famine groups will go toward Haiti's long-term recovery.
Pat Rhoads, World Vision's 30-Hour Famine Manager says, “I'm really excited and grateful that teens here can have a direct impact on teens and children in Haiti. Many wish they could go there and help the people of Haiti. This is a way to directly help them, even if they can't make the trip.”
World Vision has been working in Haiti for more than thirty years. This year, in addition to addressing immediate relief needs, 30-Hour Famine funds will be spent on long-term needs in Haiti such as food rations to children and mothers and HIV-positive adults, fruit trees, small-scale drip irrigation, guinea fowl and pigs, construction of eight new clinics (serving 55,000) and a new pharmacy, immunizations and more.
Since 1992, students have raised more than $130 million worldwide. In 2009, 30-Hour Famine raised close to $11 million. This year's goal is to raise $12 million.
Lutheran World Relief has also pledged a long-term commitment in Haiti of at least three to five years, focusing mainly on underserved rural areas outside Port-au-Prince. The earthquake also affected many of these areas, and even those communities that did not sustain damage in the quake will be strained by the anticipated migration of hundreds of thousands of people leaving the Port-au-Prince area. The northern department of Artibonite, where LWR has worked for 14 years, is seeing the largest influx of migrants from Port-au- Prince, putting a significant strain on an area with already limited resources and infrastructure.
Working with local partners and communities in this long term rehabilitation phase, LWR will help communities restore damaged infrastructure, regain agricultural production, strengthen local organizations so that they can respond to future disasters, and help people in underserved rural communities rebuild their livelihoods.
“The road to recovery for the people of Haiti will be a long one and the work is just beginning," adds Nunes. "Lutheran World Relief is committed to seeing this work through and helping the people of Haiti grow stronger and more self-sufficient."