GOAL - 2010 Haiti Earthquake

FROM RELIEF WEB:

GOAL calls for appropriate response to cholera outbreak in Haiti
Source: GOAL
Date: 12 Nov 2010

GOAL has called on the international community to respond appropriately to the cholera epidemic which has gained a foothold in Port-au-Prince, and is threatening the lives of 1.3 million vulnerable people living in the capital's temporary camps.

More than 11,000 cases of cholera, and almost 800 deaths, have now been confirmed in Haiti.

"Incredibly, this is the third major crisis that Haiti has faced this year," said GOAL's Darren Hanniffy in Haiti.

"Our worst fears have now been realised with an outbreak in Port-au-Prince. Haiti and the international community face a tremendous challenge now to respond effectively. The numbers of deaths and cases of cholera are rising rapidly."

"GOAL is striving to mitigate and control the disease in the 38 temporary settlements currently under our care, by helping to ensure that the people have access to clean water and sanitation facilities. We are also promoting good hygiene practices by distributing hygiene kits and oral rehydration salts.

"However, with all the signs pointing to an outbreak of the disease in the camps in the coming days, we need all the support we can get."

GOAL Haiti Country Director, Darren Hanniffy, can be reached at +509 37849744
GOAL CEO, John O'Shea can be contacted on 086 852 7427

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FROM THE SITE:

HISTORY OF GOAL IN HAITI:

On January 12, 2010, a massive 7-0 magnitude earthquake struck just a few miles south of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. This was followed quickly by two strong aftershocks with magnitudes of 5.9 and 5.5.

Port-au-Prince was almost completely flattened, with some estimates of loss of life in the region of 270,000 people. About 300,000 people were injured and some 1.5 million left homeless.
Water and sanitation, electricity and phone connections were destroyed. Houses, hospitals, health centres, schools, the local UN headquarters building and even a large prison were all brought down.

The airport and seaport were rendered inoperable.

With so many people left homeless, hundreds of spontaneous settlements sprung up around Port-au-Prince. The city now largely consists of a mass of tented villages, the vast majority of which are without sanitation facilities or access to clean water.

A GOAL representative entered Haiti some 26 hours after the earthquake. Within a short time he was joined in Port-au-Prince by GOAL’s emergency response team.

Today, we are continuing to deliver aid to some of the many survivors most affected by the disaster.

We have distributed food to almost half a million people and we have also delivered vital equipment such as plastic sheeting, blankets, jerry cans, mosquito nets and medical supplies to more than 3,500 families left with nothing.

A $11.5 million dollar contract agreed with the US government will see us build 4,000 transitional shelters and several hundred latrines and shower and hand-wash blocks. With 1.3 million people still without a home, the priority now is to ensure that as many of these survivors as possible are protected from the rain and hurricane seasons and have access to clean water and sanitation facilities.

Thousands of local workers are also employed on cash-for-work programmes in 20 locations, helping us to do critical work such as clearing rubble, unblocking drains and collecting rubbish.

We recently distributed 1,000 mosquito nets to some of those most at risk from malaria and we have made emergency health kits available to 40,000 people.

GOAL is also building 15 roofed structures for use by locals for community activities and by specialist agencies for education, psycho-social and various other support projects.

CURRENT GOAL PROGRAMMES IN HAITI:

- Emergency shelter construction
- Transitional shelter construction
- Community shelter construction
- Water, sanitation and health
- Cash-for-Work Schemes for local populations (including rubble removal and drain clearance)

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REBUILDING OF HAITI MUST TAKE PRIORITY

GOAL has criticised the International Community for its failure to step forward and take ultimate responsibility for the rebuilding of Haiti.

In a statement John O’Shea, GOAL CEO said: “Those of us who are working on a daily basis to relieve suffering in Haiti, realise that Haiti must be rebuilt – but who is going to do it?

“Who will take the responsibility of building the schools, hospitals, factories and most of all re-housing 1.5 million homeless and desperately poor people,” O’Shea asked.

“The aid agencies and the Haitian people can achieve only so much.

“They do not have the capacity to rebuild the structures. That is a job for the International Community.

“It’s staggering that the Security Council of the United Nations hasn’t met to decide which country or collection of countries should be charged with that task.

“When one compares the response of the International Community to the Greek banking crisis with their response to the Haitian earthquake, one understands better where the priorities of world leaders lie.”

GOAL has already completed a number of major distributions of food and non-food items reaching hundreds of thousands of people in the Haitian capital.

For donations to help GOAL's Haiti response, please contact GOAL at 12, Cumberland Street, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, phone 01-2809 779 or donate on the website.

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LACK OF LEADERSHIP IN HAITI MUST BE RESOLVED

GOAL CEO John O’Shea has hit out at the International Community for its lack of leadership and urgency in the aftermath of the Haitian catastrophe.

A GOAL team on the ground in Port-au-Prince is starting to deliver aid to the most needy. The aid organization has already received in excess of $1 million donations from the Irish public.

“A week has passed since the earthquake struck – and while GOAL is doing what we can and helping the most vulnerable, millions have yet to receive any aid,” said Mr. O’Shea.

“There can be no excuse. Unlike many natural disasters of recent years there isn’t any political reason for the failure of the International Community to produce an appropriate response.

“Major powers have pledged vast sums of cash and troops – but security and access remain critical issues, yet to be resolved.

“In a crisis of this scale, it’s imperative that one entity assumes all responsibility. This is not happening in Haiti.

“And a power vacuum can prove disastrous in a situation where urgency and decisiveness are required.”

O’Shea added that GOAL has purchased vast quantities of supplies in neighbouring Dominican Republic.

“The trucks are on the road. We have to hope that the UN can provide the security needed to enable us to start delivering the aid to those in greatest need.”

O’Shea’s sentiments were echoed by leading seismologist, Professor John McCloskey, a University of Ulster expert who led analysis of the quake that started the Indian Ocean of the Tsunami of 2004.

Professor McCloskey also described lack of planning by the International Community as a “disgrace”.

“It is an international disgrace that we appear not to have made the smallest progress in preparation,” Professor McCloskey said.

“The ‘International Community’ is very good at preparing for war but has failed completely to prepare to help the poor, who are always the ones to suffer in these events.

“If we want to claim to be civilized we need to ensure that we never see these scenes again.”