CARE provides water, food and relief to Haiti

All four of CARE's missing staff have been located!

In Haiti, the government has encouraged migration from Port-au-Prince to reduce stress and tension in the capital, where even today, people are being rescued alive from under the rubble. The government has issued radio announcements that free bus transportation is available to people leaving Port-au-Prince. On Sunday alone, approximately 1,500 people arrived in Jeremie from Port-au-Prince. Many of them are wounded and in need of assistance by the local hospital.

Just outside of our Port-au-Prince office, hundreds – perhaps even thousands – of newly homeless people are camped out in the main square. At night, groups of people can be heard clapping and chanting. Some have hung banners, painted on bed sheets, with messages like "We need help!" in English and Creole. Many tie handkerchiefs over their faces, desperately trying to block the overwhelming stench of waste. We have arranged for a tanker truck to bring water to the square, along with a huge rubber "bladder" to store it.

Access to clean water and waste disposal remain critical issues. Mounting waste in the streets, overflowing idle garbage trucks and clogged gutters will soon lead to extensive disease. We are rapidly responding and working to resolve logistical challenges. In order to reach the largest number of people quickly, CARE in Haiti's health program coordinator, Dr. Franck Geneus, and his staff are training local volunteers in water purification through a simple method: small packets of powder are mixed with water. Each packet can purify 10 liters of water. The trained volunteers will teach others and will distribute the packets according to a careful inventory of families at sites, ensuring that we reach those most in need. We also have partnered with other organizations to meet the immediate needs of the more than 37,000 pregnant and lactating women in the disaster zone who are in desperate need of food, clean drinking water and access to health care.

The Haitian minister of the Interior estimates 250,000 people are in urgent need of assistance. In addition to the water purification packets, we will soon distribute food rations, tents, mattresses and basic hygiene kits. We are working to procure and distribute additional emergency aid, including ready-to-eat meals, tarps and plastic sheeting, blankets, mosquito nets, sleeping mats, jerry cans and kitchen kits, as quickly as possible.