Haiti Quake: 6 Months Later

Today, July 12th, at 4:53pm marks 6 months since the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Through your generosity and collaboration, we have raised $106,266.10 thus far and $100,000 have already been invested in the relief and rebuilding efforts through our partners, World Concern and Partners in Health. 

As we mark the 6 month mark since the quake, we thought we'd share a few updates from our partner organizations working on the ground.

Please note that our Haiti Relief and Rebuild Fund is still open, as we seek to partner with and fund long-term reconstruction and rebuilding efforts which will be continuing for years to come. You can donate your one day's wages, another amount, or do what several have already chosen to do: Donate their birthdays or Idea for a Cause to the rebuilding efforts in Haiti.

Photographer Esther Havens, who has graciously supported ODW through the use of her photographs throughout our website, shares her 6 month update through images, here.

From our partners:

World Concern -

As of July 7, World Concern has expanded our efforts into the Fort National neighborhood, after spending months repairing homes and helping business owners restart their businesses in the Delmas region. We now employ 2,100 people in this effort.

In the last several months, World Concern has repaired more than 500 homes and delivered the same number of kit homes, which will replace homes too damaged to repair. We've given out 720 cash grants to merchants to restart their businesses, and provided 580 livelihood grants to replace damaged or lost equipment.

Neighborhood committees choose who receives new homes or home repairs first. World Concern guides the process, providing oversight, supplies and expertise. We’re maintaining our focus on those most vulnerable.

World Concern continues to support children and families who were involved in our programs in Haiti before the earthquake, including providing emergency supplies, medications for people living with AIDS, and children being able to return to school. We are committed to providing continued support to the people of Haiti through the entire recovery and rebuilding process as the country continues to heal from this devastating disaster. [WC's website]

Partners in Health -

On July 3, Partners In Health (PIH) and our Haitian sister organization, Zanmi Lasante (ZL), broke ground in Mirebalais, Haiti, for a world-class teaching hospital. Mirebalais will be a national referral facility, the flagship of our efforts to help rebuild Haiti’s health sector. By the first anniversary of the earthquake—January 12, 2011—the seven buildings of the main hospital campus, comprising 180,000 square feet, will be standing, with work on the interiors begun. Plans call for the hospital to be accepting patients by the end of 2011.

The new hospital will have 320 beds—equivalent in capacity to all 12 of the sites in which PIH currently works in Haiti, combined—and will offer clinical facilities not available at any public site in the country, including an intensive care unit and an operating theatre complex with six operating rooms equipped for thoracic surgery. The original plans for a 108-bed referral hospital for the lower plateau, offering comprehensive, community-based primary and prenatal care as well as treatment for TB, HIV, malaria, and malnutrition were expanded at the request of the Ministry of Health following the January 12 earthquake.

Dr. Alex Larsen, Minister of Health, said “What Haiti needs now are true partners to help us build back better by strengthening our country's public infrastructure. The new teaching hospital at Mirebalais will be a model for our national health system, offering high-quality medical services, a place for our clinicians to study and train, and hope and dignity to all who will seek—and offer—care there. We look forward to building upon our long-standing partnership with Partners In Health/Zanmi Lasante with this desperately-needed facility." [PiH's website]

[Above] ODW Advisory Board Member, Dr. Mary Wierusz, contributing to the Haiti recovery efforts. Read about her trip here.
 

ODW Founder, Eugene Cho, interviews World Concern director of Disaster Response, Merry Fitzpatrick, during his trip to Haiti approximately two months after the quake.