Haiti Quake: Two Weeks In, CBM Situation Updates
Thursday, January 28, 2010

It's been two weeks since one of the worst earthquakes in history struck Haiti, and the situation remains bleak

The Haitian Government raised the confirmed earthquake death toll to 150,000, and fears it could double as reports from outside the capital arrive. And as injury statistics climb toward 200,000, CBM’s mission of near-term emergency relief and long term care for the disabled has never been so critical.

SITUATION UPDATES

We hear daily from those leading this incredible humantiarian mission. Casualties among our partners on the ground are mounting. Devastation of roads, communications and program site infrastructure abounds. The depth of grief and urgent needs that this earthquake has left in its wake are truly immeasurable.

We have learned that:

• CBM Partner Grace Children's Hospital has suffered significant damanges, but its eye clinic building stands and remains operational.
• The Center for Special Education (Centre d'Education Speciale), which experienced 2 staff casualties, is in desperate need of a new facility to house its students and workers.
• More than 235,000 people have left Port-au-Prince using the free transportation provided by the Government.
• Ready-to-eat meals are needed for the short term to cover food needs.
• The number of people living in temporary shelter sites in Port-au-Prince could be as high as 800,000, according to partners on the ground.
• Water continues to be distributed daily at 115 sites in Port-au-Prince reaching an estimated 235,000 people.
• The number of injured people that need surgical interventions is diminishing, according to the World Health Organization.
• Haiti’s Ministry of Health is revising its emergency response strategy and will gradually shift focus from emergency surgical cases to primary health care. Thousands of amputees will require physical therapy.

Five of CBM’s 7 in country projects are in the Port-au-Prince area alone, and our staff and partners on the ground are overcoming unthinkable logistical odds to connect, sustain and empower people with the means to pull through. Every tragedy is met with a prayer, and every grief with the occasional miracle, thanks to the outpouring of support from people like you.  

No one can estimate the human cost of this disaster, but open-hearted gestures are helping us rebuild hope, rescue lives and restore faith.

Join us in this great relief effort today. The people of Haiti need us now more than ever.

God Bless,