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News : Haiti

Medical relief in Haiti

Medical relief in Haiti – 18 Jan 2010

Medical staff with a Tearfund partner in Haiti are working around the clock treating hundreds of people with earthquake-related injuries.

The King’s Hospital, run by World Relief, is one of the few places offering treatment in the capital Port-au-Prince after escaping the tremors with just a few cracks to the walls.

It’s been operating since last Tuesday’s quake killed between 50,000 and 200,000 people. Tearfund emergency response teams have been responding to the disaster. An emergency appeal is underway to allow us to increase the scale of our response. To give, click here.

Broken bones from falling masonry are among the main injuries doctors and nurses are dealing with.

Suffering

Dr Hubert Morquette, World Relief’s country director for Haiti, said, ‘We’ve treated hundreds of injuries as well as countless open and closed fractures. We work all day and late into the night as patients continue to flock to our facility. There’s a lot of suffering and we go above and beyond trying to save lives but at times they still succumb to their injuries. We thank God for the medical supplies we’ve received over the last couple of months which have enabled us to provide care to our numerous patients.’

Total despair

More medical staff are needed, particularly surgeons, and there’s also a shortage of antibiotics and pain-killers. Dr Morquette added, ‘Port-au-Prince is in total despair. The major governmental institutions have crumbled. It is a major catastrophe.’

World Relief has been working in Haiti for 15 years, partnering with local churches on health projects and micro-enterprise schemes. Tearfund is responding to the earthquake through such local partners and has also sent a disaster response team to Haiti.

Please give today

Only €31 can provide a tarpaulin for shelter for a family and €55 can provide a family of with emergency household items,water containers and blankets.

Donate now online here or by credit card by contacting Christine in our office – 01 878 3200

Haiti Earthquake Update – 15 Jan 2010

This email has just come in from Tearfund Country Representative Jean Claude (15th Jan)

Dear friends and colleagues,

I appreciate very much your support and all the prayers that are going up for us in Haiti. The disaster is very big indeed. We are used to hurricanes, not to earthquakes. Our last major earthquake happened in the North of Haiti in 1847, almost 200 years ago. So people have no reflex for this and are not trained on the right preservation moves. In general, the disaster is terrible because there are many buildings that collapsed at a peak time —4:45 pm— including Schools, Universities, Government buildings, the UN headquarters, hotels, supermarkets, hospitals, etc. Several important people from Government, the church and the business communities also died and we cannot count the dead among the general population.

The current situation is very critical. There is no organized relief assistance from the Government who seems to be paralyzed. Even the UN forces are very slow to react as they have had a lot of losses among themselves, including the head of the UN in Haiti and his assistant. Movement is quite difficult because there is no fuel being sold, no city power, no internal communication. Hospitals that were not destroyed have closed their doors because they are overwhelmed and the wounded population is remaining without care. There is a general feeling of fear across the population as people are scared of a rebound. Also there are many damaged buildings that could collapse any time soon. The bodies of dead people are accumulating and people don’t know how to dispose of them. So they just throw them on the streets expecting the Government to get rid of them. But this is not happening quickly and this may create a catastrophic situation and health hazard.

The needs are enormous and it is going to take months for the situation to return to normal. We are responding to the basic needs of the survivors by providing food, blankets and shelter. A more detailed assessment should begin in the next few days to help us plan the way forward.

As for us, both our house and my office have been severely damaged by the earthquake. The houses of my 2 co-workers (my Admin and my Driver) have been destroyed as well. Fortunately, we have no loss of lives so far. I would appreciate you praying for my driver’s brother’s family. They have 4 children who were under rubbish after the earthquake. Two have been rescued and they are still searching for the other two.

Please pray for:
• Wisdom for the authorities who seem to be overwhelmed and taken totally unprepared for this.
• A swift response from the Government and from the international community to address this critical situation
• The suffering population of Haiti, for comfort for so many who are burying their dead
• Tearfund partners as they deal with their own deaths and losses and are planning their response to this catastrophe among their membership
• The church of Haiti to be able to give a response of love, care and hope to the survivors

With every blessing,
Jean Claude Cerin

Immediate needs to that Tearfund partner’s are supplying are:

· access to clean water
· food aid and basic items
· shelter provision
· medical supplies and counselling support for the grieving and distressed

Please give today

Only €31 can provide a tarpaulin for shelter for a family and €55 can provide a family of with emergency household items,water containers and blankets.

Donate now online here or by credit card by contacting Christine in our office – 01 878 3200

Haiti Earthquake Appeal

Haiti Earthquake Appeal – 13 Jan 2010

Massive earthquake strikes Haiti on 12th January

Hundreds of people are missing feared dead after a quake measuring seven on the Richter Scale struck the Caribbean island yesterday.
Many buildings have been destroyed or badly damaged in the capital Port-au-Prince, including the presidential palace and the five-storey UN offices. As darkness fell last night, fear of after-shocks led many people to spend the evening sleeping out in the open.

Jean-Claude Cerin, Tearfund’s Country Representative for Haiti, who is based in Port-au-Prince is among thousands of people whose homes have been damaged or destroyed. Tearfund has been working with it’s partners to provide immediate relief to the injured and homeless.

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Rescue efforts to dig people from the rubble of smashed homes, shops and offices are being hampered by blocked roads, power cuts, disrupted communications and a lack of equipment.

As Tearfund partners in Haiti assess emergency aid needs, Jennie Evans, Tearfund’s Head of Region for Latin America and the Caribbean said, ‘Although detailed information about the number of people needing help is proving hard to come by, it’s clear that we are facing a very serious disaster.
‘With so many buildings destroyed and so many people made homeless, the need for shelter and basic essentials such as food and water is extremely urgent.’

The UN has an 11,000-strong peacekeeping force in Haiti which is gathering information about the extent of the devastation.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, ‘My heart goes out to the people of Haiti after this devastating earthquake. At this time of tragedy, I am very concerned for the people of Haiti and also for the many United Nations staff who serve there.’

Immediate needs to that Tearfund partner’s are supplying are:
· access to clean water
· food aid and basic items
· shelter provision
· medical supplies and counselling support for the grieving and distressed

Please give today

Only €31 can provide a tarpaulin for shelter for a family and €55 can provide a family of with emergency household items,water containers and blankets.

Donate now online here or by credit card by contacting Christine in our office – 01 497 5285 or enquiries@tearfund.ie or post a cheque to; Tearfund Ireland, Ulysses House, 22-24 Foley Street, Dublin 1

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