Emergency Relief
Earthquake in Haiti
Send clean water and emergency relief in response to the 7.2 magnitude earthquake!
Provide clean water for drinking, sanitation, and hygiene!
World Hope International is responding to the devastating magnitude 7.2 earthquake that just rocked Haiti. Will you join us with a special gift today?
Our local and international staff have mobilized and are coordinating with partners to provide relief to those in need.
Provide clean water
Our GivePower Solar Water Farm on the Haitian island of La Gonâve is intact following the earthquake. We are producing clean water at the facility and delivering it by boat directly from there to the impacted areas of the island via three ports. Following a disaster, clean water is vital not only for safe drinking purposes but to also prevent a secondary health disaster resulting from a lack of sanitation and hygiene.
Support medical teams from La Gonâve Wesleyen Hospital
Two specially formed teams of Haitian medical doctors and nurses from the La Gonâve Wesleyen Hospital flew directly into the devastated southern region of Haiti, ready with medical expertise, supplies, and a passion to help their fellow citizens. World Hope International is also working to ensure the supply of medicine as well as medical equipment and supplies.
Fill the gap on last-mile emergency relief logistics
Once emergency relief supplies and personnel arrive in Haiti, they still need to reach the hard-hit sites, but the earthquake meant that usual means and routes for transport are no longer options. World Hope International leased 2 helicopters, 2 CASA’s, and 1 Aztec to provide vital transportation in and out of otherwise inaccessible locations, moving first responders, emergency relief, and medical supplies and helping where they need to be and medevacing survivors out.
News Update
Last month’s earthquake in southwest Haiti, has caused devastating damages to the country’s infrastructure. According to Devex “over 1,800 water supply systems have been reported as either damaged or destroyed.”
As Dan Irving, World Hope International’s country director in Haiti, explains that “the lack of access to municipal water systems, most of the population in the affected area capture and store water when it rains,” however, with the recent earthquake, people are unable to store rainwater as cisterns have been shattered, and with the disruption of springs, ravines, and other water sources, the southwest of the country is facing a water crisis.
Continue reading about the “efforts to improve access to water” and “sustaining such efforts beyond immediate relief”.
In Les Cayes, Haiti, the epicenter of Saturday’s earthquake, hospitals have become “so overwhelmed with patients that many had to lie in patios, corridors, verandas and hallways”, according to the Bloomberg report. With the tropical storm rolling in Monday night, hospitals were forced to relocate the patients as best as they can.
According to Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency, the death toll has risen to 1,419 and 6,000 injured, “many of whom have had to wait under the burning heat, even on an airport tarmac, for help” due to hospitals being overcapacity.
As Tropical Storm Grace threatens Haiti with heavy rain and flooding, the Washington Post reports how “rescue workers and doctors“ have been working “feverishly to save victims of the deadly earthquake”.
The mayor of a harbor town, Mari-Helen L’Esperance, told Haiti’s Pacific Radio on Monday: “Every house was destroyed, there’s nowhere to live, we need shelters, medical help and especially water…” and that the prospect of the storm has “spread fear through residents who had nothing left but to pray.”
NBC NEWS reports that “more than 1,200 people and injured 5,700” as a result of the 7.2-magnitude earthquake this past Saturday.
The earthquake in Haiti has “flattened churches, homes and government buildings” and trapped many people in the rubble. As the Haitians continue to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake, they must “brace for the likely impact of Tropical Storm Grace, which appears to be headed toward it and could bring heavy rains and strong wind this week.”
Reuters reports that at least “304 people died and hundreds were injured after a major earthquake struck southwestern Haiti on Saturday, authorities said, reducing churches, hotels, schools and homes to rubble.”
The earthquake was followed by a series of aftershocks and Haiti’s Civil Protection service told Reuters that in addition to the preliminary death toll of 304, at least 1,800 people are injured and more are unaccounted for.
