Haiti Quake Updates

Media Contacts Wendy Christian (W) 203-221-3767 (C) 203-241-9722 Kate Conradt (W) 202-640-6631 (C) 202-294-9700 Tanya Weinberg (W) 202-640-6647 (C) 202-247-6610 Eileen Burke (W) 203-221-4233 (C) 203-216-0718 Save the Children to Distribute Food Rations to 200,000 Children and Families in Haiti in Partnership with World Food Program PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Jan. 29, 2010) — Save the Children will partner with the World Food Program (WFP) to distribute critically needed food supplies to about 200,000 children and families in Haiti affected by the catastrophic earthquake over two weeks ago.    Beginning this Sunday, Save the Children will provide family food rations – enough to feed a family for two weeks – to about 33,000 families (equivalent to 200,000 people) with special attention to women.   Food distribution in Haiti. Photo credit: Colin Crowley.  "Two weeks after the disaster, many families are still without a stable food supply," warned Annie Foster, Save the Children's emergency team leader in Haiti. "Rapid food distribution must begin immediately to save the most vulnerable, especially children." "Children are the first ones to suffer," said Foster. "While some local markets have reopened, there are only small supplies of food and the prices have risen dramatically." Save the Children is one of several aid agencies who will assist in a two-week WFP distribution program in and around the city of Port-au-Prince. U.S. Military to Provide Security During Food Distribution, World Food Program to Transport Food to Sites The US military will provide security during the food distribution and ensure the boundaries of site areas are properly arranged prior to distribution. WFP is responsible for the secure transportation of the food to the distribution site areas. "Haitian people keep hearing that food is coming," said Foster. "But many of them have not seen any. They are becoming increasingly impatient. One of the measures Save the Children took to prevent possible incidents is to get the community involved in the process, so they understand how this distribution will take place." Several Additional Partners to Help Manage Distribution Sites Save the Children is working closely with World Vision, Catholic Relief Services and Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) to manage the multiple WFP distribution sites. Since the earthquake, Save the Children's health teams have reached more than 85,000 people with medical treatment.  The aid agency is also distributing hygiene and household supplies such as soap, towels, cans to hold water, and plastic sheeting for shelter.  Save the Children has worked in Haiti since 1978 and currently has about 250 staff in the country. Learn more about our emergency response to the earthquake in Haiti. Please Help Us Respond to the Haiti Emergency by Donating Now Donate any amount at www.savethechildren.org or by calling 1-800-728-3843 or 1-203-221-4030. OR DONATE $10 BY TEXTING "SAVE" to 20222 (U.S. Only). Standard message rates apply. Save the Children is the leading, independent organization that creates lasting change for children in need in the United States and around the world. Save the Children USA is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance, a global network of 29 independent Save the Children organizations working to ensure the well-being and protection of children in more than 120 countries. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Following is the first set of responses from Elsie St. Louis-Accilien, the executive director of Haitian-Americans United for Progress.

Thank you for taking the time to put me to the test with very thoughtful questions, some of which may even be beyond my pay grade. As the executive director of the Haitian-Americans United for Progress, I normally deal with issues of domestic import, in particular those that relate to the health and welfare of the residents of the greater Cambria Heights community in Queens. Yet the catastrophic earthquake that devastated a third of my native land has forced us all to provide a most humane response while not forgetting the tough questions.

I will respond to the questions in no particular order, but I hope that though I may not respond to each one of you individually, I will have nonetheless touched upon the concerns that you have raised.

Is Doctors Without Border a good organization to donate to?

— Posted by Tom Delane

Doctors Without Borders, Partners in Health, Oxfam, Catholic Relief Services, and Project Medishare are among the organizations that had viable and worthy programs in Haiti before the earthquake. This allowed them to respond quickly to the emergency and to provide life-saving support to hundreds, perhaps thousands. They are all worthy of your donations. There are many more organizations — some well known and well financed, some not so popular — that are also rising to the challenge and are able to bring resources to bear on the relief efforts.

Bear in mind, however, that just beyond the search and rescue efforts lies the daunting task of keeping the survivors alive through sustained medical care and tending to the physical and emotional trauma of hundreds of thousands.

Yet it is also important to ensure that Haitians are not simply passive recipients of international charity, but that they are put to work immediately so that they can be the primary builders of the Haitian dream. Thus my sincere hope is that the remarkable support and solidarity that you and most people of the world have given Haiti will not fade away once the spotlight is turned off. There will be plenty of opportunities for people wishing to be involved in the rebuilding of Haiti. Just note that bare-bones accommodations are all that will be available in the near future.

The scene could be taking place anywhere in Port-au-Prince - thousands of sweaty, dusty Haitians squeezed back-to-chest waiting for relief supplies that could determine whether they survive the next few weeks.

But in Petionville, a comparatively well-heeled suburb, the operation reveals more than just the colossal need that exists throughout post-earthquake Haiti. It shows how the disaster crossed boundaries of income and class, turning even the once-exclusive Petionville Club into a fetid expanse of desperation.

And it shows the enormous effort, involving governments, aid organizations and the U.S. military, that is required to satisfy the most basic of human needs in Haiti.

Roughly 400 members of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division have taken over the club, using the restaurant as a headquarters and taking bucket baths on the bleachers by the tennis courts. A federal disaster-management team has set up a medical clinic on the putting green closest to the clubhouse, and the poolside cabana bar is serving as a pharmacy. The aid group Oxfam International is setting up 90 latrines along the fairways, part of a project to provide water and sanitation for the sprawling tent city.

Karen Ketchie, a disaster-management team leader from Jacksonville, Fla., who works at the club as part of a medical aid group, imagined that Gulf Coast hurricanes were good training for the Haitian relief effort - until she arrived in Petionville.

"There, the infrastructure is up and if we needed something, we could just go a few counties over," she said. "Here it's totally different. Everything you need is a challenge."

As Ketchie spoke near the club's half-empty pool, she was standing next to a sign that read: "Pillar collapse potential if aftershock. Do not stand here."