SITUATION REPORT                         

Haiti Earthquake – 17 January 2010

BACKGROUND

There are now an estimated 50,000 dead after the severe earthquake that rocked Port-Au-Prince on Tuesday. However, this number is expected to rise significantly as more bodies are recovered from the rubble. Government authorities report that at least one million are severely affected, and hundreds of thousands are desperate for emergency relief. Critical needs include water, shelter, food, and sanitation facilities. Medical facilities are overrun, and there are not enough personnel to handle the injured and sick.

 

Our team is reporting that there are people standing outside of churches trying to get inside. They are singing and praising the Lord.

 

HOW SAMARITAN’S PURSE IS RESPONDING

Samaritan’s Purse immediately mobilized the Incident Management Team (IMT). Our efforts-to-date include:

 

• We have 21 DART members on the ground. Dozens more are scheduled to arrive throughout next week.

 

• The DART met with pastors to train them for distributions. These pastors were given hygiene kits, blankets, and flashlights for 1,200 people. The distributions began today.

 

• The two DART logisticians slept at the airport last night to accept arriving flights. One flight arrived overnight loaded with three vehicles and tons of supplies. The other flight was delayed and did not leave Florida until late today. It is scheduled to arrive between 9:30 and 10:00 tonight.

 

• We have supplied our mission hospital partner with enough clean water, fuel, and medical supplies to last for the next 10 days. The items supplied today include a community water filter that was set up on-site.

 

• One of our water engineers will be training a team on the use of water purification packets tonight. This team will begin working tomorrow to distribute these packets and train people to use them.

 

• We have a DC-4 cargo plane scheduled to leave Florida tomorrow. It will carry five community water filters and other emergency supplies. Tomorrow evening, a DC-6 flight is scheduled to transport the remainder of emergency supplies that have been committed to arrive by air.

 

• Thirteen additional DART members – nine of them medical – will be on that flight. Flights carrying personnel are also scheduled for Wednesday and Friday.

 

• Next Monday, we are scheduled to load a barge with heavy equipment including three excavators, two dump trucks, bulldozers, vans, wood, tools, and 5,000 rolls of plastic. It should take 3-4 days to sail to Haiti.

 

 

WAYS YOU CAN HELP

 

Pray:

 

• That people would get the help they need as quickly as possible

 

• For our team as they show the compassion of Christ to survivors

 

• For wisdom in determining the most effective response to this disaster
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HEADLINES