Haiti Earthquake

Grandmother with grandchildren The members of the HUMANITARIAN COALITION have been present in Haiti for more than five decades and had more than 600 staff working in the country when the earthquake hit on January 12th. They immediately responded to meet the urgent needs of survivors of the quake. Now, six months after the disastrous earthquake in Haiti, the HUMANITARIAN COALITION and its members have shifted their focus from emergency relief to the longer-term work of supporting Haitian communities as they rebuild their country. While life in Haiti is beginning to return to some semblance of normality, there is still a great deal of work to be done.

Relief workers with CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Québec and Save the Children Canada shifted their efforts from emergency relief to fostering recovery and reconstruction. A long road lays ahead for the people of Haiti and the members of the HUMANITARIAN COALITION will remain in the country for years to come, helping every step of the way.

Over the past six months, the members of the HUMANITARIAN COALITION have effectively contributed to rebuilding Haiti alongside the survivors of the earthquake. The members of the HUMANITARIAN COALITION have reached hundreds of thousands of Haitians with essential and urgently needed assistance.

Here are just a few examples and highlights of the many different activities undertaken so far:

  •   CARE has created 20 women's centres in Carrefour and Leogane to help prevent gender-based violence and raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.
  •   Save the Children has registered 1,740 children in family tracking and reunification programs. To date, 567 children have been reunited with their family.
  •   134,000 people are benefitting from Oxfam's cash-for-work programs.
  •   Save the Children has reached more than 100,000 people with health and nutritional programs.
  •   1,575 families have received spinach and okra seeds from CARE to improve their access to fresh food.
  •   Oxfam hygiene kits are benefitting 120,000 people.

To find out more about the efforts of these organizations in Haiti, read:

Save the Children's, Serving Haiti's Children Now, Rebuilding For Their Future
Oxfam Canada's six-month update on Haiti
Oxfam Quebec's six-month report on Haiti (in French)
CARE's Haiti earthquake appeal

 

Care Canada Logo

CARE Canada’s Haiti Earthquake Response

CARE’s assistance began the morning after the quake. Even though many of our staff in Haiti had lost their own homes and family, they immediately went to work surveying the damage and needs and mounting recovery and relief efforts. CARE has reached more than 290,000 beneficiaries through the distribution of tarps, tents, shelter kits, ropes, mattresses, blankets, kitchen sets, jerry cans, hygiene, clean delivery kits, newborn kits and food and is providing access to water through installation of water bladders and water tankers, in Port-au-Prince, Pétionville, Carrefour, Léogâne, and Jérémie.

Shipments of tents and shelter supplies have been delivered and CARE is mobilizing additional staff to assist in setting up temporary shelters in Leogane. The United Nations is also now supplying CARE with reproductive health kits and clean delivery kits for distribution. CARE is currently targeting 106,053 beneficiaries through latrine construction and 44,550 through water trucking in Carrefour and Léogâne. Additionally, CARE is creating 20 women's centres in Carrefour and Leogane to help prevent gender-based violence and raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, and is helping improve health facilities for victims of gender-based violence.

Oxfam Canada Logo

Oxfam’s Haiti Earthquake Response

Oxfam Canada and Oxfam-Québec are distributing clean water, building water taps, installing latrines and setting up bladders of water to store clean water in temporary camps. After sending more than 60 tons of supplies from Canada, England, Panama and Spain, we have now helped more than 204,000 people with aid, and are hoping to reach more than 500,000. At the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, we’ve trucked in clean water and set up a massive bladder to keep the hospital supplied with water that’s crucial to cleaning, sterilizing equipment and cooking meals. We’ve distributed plastic sheeting for use as shelter and organized and distributed “family kits” consisting of feminine hygiene products, pots, buckets and kitchen utensils.

In Carrefour, the epicenter of the quake, Oxfam began paying community members to start cleaning up the area by removing rubbish and waste. Cash-for-work programs mean that individuals not only improve their living conditions, they also earn desperately-needed money to buy food and other necessities.

Save The Children Canada Logo

Save the Children’s Haiti Earthquake Response

Children are always the most vulnerable when a disaster strikes, so Save the Children has been reaching out to families and children by providing medical support, food, water and other supplies such as blankets, plastic sheeting, water storage containers and hygiene kits.  The agency has coordinated with Haitian authorities, the international community, local and international organizations and communities to reach an estimated 682,000 children and adults - with lifesaving and life-sustaining assistance. 

Save the Children is leading a number of child protection activities, such as reunifying separated and unaccompanied children with their families.  As well, we have set up more than 50 child-friendly spaces to keep children safe while their parents engage in relief activities.  In these spaces they are provided with educational and creative programming to help them return to a sense of normalcy as well as feel a sense of security in a safe location. Save the Children has distributed medication to hospitals and clinics, set up mobile clinics to provide medical consultations and is supporting primary health care activities.