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Pulse Report February 10, 2010

Haiti Relief Effort: Summary

CARREFOUR, HAITI - This camp in Carrefour was home to tens of thousands of people forced out of their homes, with no food or water, living in makeshift tents made out of bed sheets and old tarps. Although Carrefour was essentially the epicenter of the January 12 earthquake that devastated Haiti, this city of more than 400,000 people was receiving very little assistance of any kind. HISG chose to focus our efforts on this settlement, and meet their basic needs of food, water, shelter, and medical treatment. The result has been a cooperative mission that has supplied clean water, more than 400 tons of food, a long-term commitment from volunteer medical professionals from the United States and Brazil, and thousands of tarps to shut out the rain. What was a very desperate situation is now far more stable and the people have much greater promise for the future. HISG has spent several years building and training the International Disaster Response Network (IDRN), and a number of different organizations from that network were able to use their specific expertise to transform this community. Your support has made the difference between hope and despair, and quite possibly between life and death. Please keep reading to see how HISG is making an impact.

Medical teams treat hundreds of patients

HISG worked through the IDRN to connect volunteer medical teams from the United States and Brazil to provide emergency care to hundreds of earthquake victims in Haiti. Most of the people who received treatment at these clinics had not received any medical attention until these teams arrived. The first day that the initial clinic was set up, they were able to help three children with fractured bones that had still not been set, 11 days after the earthquake. They continued to treat countless scrapes, injuries, and infections among communities that had no other access to medical care. The extensive damage to the nation's hospitals, and the sheer volume of people in need of help caused many people to be overlooked.

One of the volunteers said this about the situation in Haiti:

"Many of these patients have not been seen before, which is very concerning. They still have lines outside all the hospitals, waiting to be seen. They can't get to all the people. Let alone that they don't have the supplies they need to take care of them when they get inside."

You can listen to an online audio interview with part of the first IDRN medical team here .

HISG and our partners within the International Disaster Response Network have arranged for more teams to visit Haiti in the coming months, to make sure that these families have the long-term care and security they need to recover. Thank you for partnering with HISG to meet this desperate need.

Water Update

One of the most pressing needs in Carrefour was a source of clean water. The camp of 20,000 was sharing water from one hand pump (pictured). HISG worked with two organizations from the IDRN that have a tremendous track record of providing sustainable water solutions to communities in need. They were able to install two high-volume water purification systems and several smaller filters near the camp, as well as repair automatic pumps nearby that had been broken in the earthquake. The IDRN is a unique tool for connecting organizations, like these two, that have similar and complementary skill sets and giving them a platform to work together. This effort provided the people with thousands of gallons of safe, clean water everyday, and would not have been possible without your participation. Thank you for your continued support of this project. For more information about the IDRN and how it is uniquely positioned to respond simultaneously to a broad spectrum of needs, please contact us.

Refugee Camp Receives Hundreds of Tons of Food

Several weeks after the earthquake, the city of Carrefour was still only receiving a fraction of the amount of food that the people needed. The people were getting desperate; some of them even tried to sell their children to get money for food. HISG pulled together a cooperative response which delivered more than 400 tons of food, including baby food for small children, to the camp. HISG worked closely with the Columbian Red Cross, which had supply ships docked just minutes away from the camp, to provide the shipments. The deliveries were met with loud cheers as people poured out of their tents to say thank you. The lack of food was the most urgent remaining need, and HISG was able to avoid costly delays in order to connect resources to needs.