By Acacia Betancourt | GlobalGiving
It has been nearly seven years since the deadly earthquake hit Haiti on January 12, 2010. The biggest earthquake in 250 years, it displaced more than three million people and killed hundreds of thousands. This unprecedented quake and its 52 aftershocks destroyed countless homes and commercial buildings, leaving Haitian residents without shelter, food, or proper medical care. Within ten days, government officials called off the search for survivors, and emergency aid began to dissipate despite the massive need for continued help.
Fortunately, we had nonprofit partners already on the ground, and with their feedback we were able to quickly respond to community needs and support them throughout the long recovery process.
With your generous donations, mobile clinics were established to provide underserved communities with comprehensive rehabilitative care, immunization, and disease prevention services. A new state-of-the-art medical laboratory was built by Partners in Health to treat patients with more sophisticated technology—including a pathology lab that enabled surgeons to biopsy and diagnose cancer patients. In the weeks and months that followed the traumatic earthquake, there was a high increase in depression and anxiety among Haitian residents. PIH responded by focusing more on mental health services and training 60 workers to provide support to those suffering from PTSD.
A medical education program was developed to train nurses and physicians on emergency medical services and cholera treatments. And hands-on support was provided to parents to help them treat their malnourished children, all thanks to hard work of International Medical Corps.
To promote Haiti’s long-term recovery, sustainable agriculture practices, technical training, access to affordable lines of credit, and goat breeding projects were established by Lambi Fund of Haiti to help rebuild the land of 2,600 farmers. Over 70% of the families in Haiti depend on a small plot of land to provide food and to earn income. Lambi grew 18,000 trees to assist those families who lost their plants and trees during the storm, which made them significantly more vulnerable to the natural elements.
Over the past seven years, you’ve given close to $1 million to support these relief efforts along with more than 7,000 donors from all over the world. Your donations have made a tremendous impact on the lives of Haitian earthquake survivors. On behalf of our nonprofit partners, thank you so much for your generous support of their amazing work on the ground in Haiti.
The work in Haiti isn’t done yet. Ranked amongst the poorest countries in the world, Haiti has a history of being prone to earthquakes and was hit by both Hurricane Matthew in October 2016, and most recently, Hurricane Irma in September. The recovery and rebuilding in Haiti is far from over, and local organizations still need continued support.
We will now be closing this fund, but if you would like to continue giving to support local organizations in Haiti, our Hurricane Irma Relief Fund is also providing resources and services to natural disaster-affected communities.
By Mike Smeltzer | Program Fellow
By Ashlee Cox | Program Fellow
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When a disaster strikes, recovery efforts led by people who live and work in affected communities are often overlooked and underfunded. GlobalGiving is changing this reality. Since 2004, we've been shifting decision-making power to crises-affected communities through trust-based grantmaking and support.
We make it easy, quick, and safe to support people on the ground who understand needs in their communities better than anyone else.
They were there long before the news cameras arrived, and they’ll be there long after the cameras leave. They know how to make their communities more resilient to future disasters, and they’re already hard at work. GlobalGiving puts donations and grants directly into their hands. Because the status quo—which gives the vast majority of funding to a few large organizations—doesn’t make sense.
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