Clean water keeps disease at bay following disaster

Like the other members of her community, Cherie Melida lost everything because of Hurricane Matthew. When the storm hit Haiti on October 4, 2016, it destroyed her house and her garden where she was growing vegetables, her family’s only source of food. Photo: Save the Children

"We are living in a horrible condition. When we are lucky, the children eat once a day. We’ve lost our animals and our crops for the year. It’s very hard to live like this,” said Cherie, a 59-year-old who lives with her nine children and three grandchildren.

In all, 2.1 million people were affected nationwide by the catastrophic storm. More than 1.4 million people required humanitarian aid, of whom more than 40 per cent are children. The storm killed more than 500 people, injured 430 and forced 140,000 people out of their homes and into temporary shelters.

Through funding from the Canadian Humanitarian Assistance Fund, Save the Children was able to provide Cherie with a water treatment kit.
“My daughter goes to collect water every day from the river, but it’s dirty and the danger of contracting diseases is very high. Fortunately, we have received water treatment tablets from Save the Children. Otherwise we would have no choice but drink dirty water,” says Cherie.

Save the Children also repaired community water supplies, helped rehabilitate latrines and provided protection support to affected children.
The road to recovery for many Haitians will remain long, but with support from aid agencies like Save the Children, there is hope.