Haiti Earthquake Response 2nd Anniversary

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Australian Aid Worker Warns of Long Road Ahead

Two years after a deadly earthquake struck Haiti, and with 500,000 people still living in temporary shelters, World Vision Australia is urging the international community to fulfill its commitments.

According to the UN, less than half of the $4.6 billion pledged by the global community to support Haiti’s recovery had been delivered by the end of September 2011. World Vision Australia is warning that continued support from governments around the world, as well as strong leadership from the Haitian Government, will be critical to the nation’s success.

More than 220,000 people were killed by the magnitude 7 earthquake which struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. In the aftermath, World Vision and other NGOs faced many challenges: land disputes, political instability, overpopulation, poor existing infrastructure and a cholera outbreak.

“The Haiti response has been one of the largest and most difficult ever undertaken by the aid community,” Australian WV aid worker in Haiti Meg Sattler said. “There's been progress in Haiti, but it's been slow. We're in a situation now where agencies have dwindling resources, and yet so many people here are still in great need.”

“As humanitarians, it's heartbreaking for us to see half a million people still living in camps. These camps are unsafe and unsanitary environments, particularly for women, children and the vulnerable.”

World Vision has been active in Haiti for more than 30 years, and its presence there enabled the organisation’s staff to be some of the first on the ground to respond after the earthquake. Thanks to the generosity of the Australian public, World Vision Australia raised $10.1 million
for Haiti, while globally World Vision raised around $213 million. Those funds were used to achieve the following:

• Management and coordination of 27 displacement camps
• Food security programming (including school lunch programs and food distributions) to more than 2.5 million people
• Clean water to hundreds of thousands of people
• Education and play opportunities for more than 7,700 children
• 2,700 transitional shelters provided for almost 14,000 people

World Vision has spent around 90 per cent of the funds raised for its earthquake response and will likely complete its emergency response program during the second quarter of 2012.

However, the organisation continues to engage in transitional work, helping families move from displacement camps into transitional and permanent homes and will continue its long-term community development work in areas outside of Port-au-Prince.

Media Contact: Chloe Adams - World Vision Australia +61 427 413 816

Media Releases, Emergencies, Poverty, Latin America and Carribean, Disaster relief, Earthquake, Haiti, United Nations

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