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Only five years ago, Haiti was struck by an earthquake of unprecedented strength, killing 250,000 people and injuring a further 300,000. A disaster all the more cruel for a people already on the brink. Already there in the context of projects on health and nutrition, Terre des hommes prepared itself to carry out its greatest emergency response.
The earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale which shook Haiti on 12th January 2010 made an impression on us all, all the more so on Terre des hommes. In the country since 1989 in the fight against malnutrition and to improve access to clean water, hygiene and sanitation, the NGO responded immediately and was thus able to bring direct assistance to the victims of the earthquake.
Assistance to 125,000 people of whom 83,000 were children
“We were sent to Port-au-Prince to join our teams. The scene was devastating. Bodies were still trapped in the debris” says David Dandrès, coordinator of the emergency response in Haiti. “I really wondered how we were going to be able to help given the scale of the damage,” he adds.
In the regions of Cayes, Léogânes, Petit Gôave et Grand Gôave, the Terre des hommes emergency response from 2010 to 2012 helped nearly 125,000 people affected by the earthquake, of whom 83,000 were children. “In our 50 years of existence, it is our biggest emergency response yet,” says Steven Fricaud, head of the Humanitarian Crises section at Terre des hommes. Shelter, basic necessities and drinking water were distributed to those most affected.
Protecting vulnerable children
The need to protect children, who had been orphaned or simply separated from their families, quickly became a priority for the Foundation. Schools were destroyed , Terre des hommes set up safe areas for children: “It is important to not leave children alone, playing in the rubble, but to set up an infrastructure to enable them to get over this nightmare that they have experienced”, says David Dandrès.
The NGO has also worked to reunite children with their families. Between 2011 and 2012, nearly 3,000 children placed in institutions were documented. 1,000 were able to be linked up with their families and nearly 500 children went back to live with their families or were taken in by a host family. Learn about the three young sisters who found their father thanks to the actions of Terre des hommes.
Terre des hommes in Haiti today
Five years after the earthquake, the people are still in great need, particularly with respect to access to drinking water and sanitation and procedures for protecting children. For more than 16,000 people, the NGO is consolidating and ensuring the continuation of its activities in the camps and villages of Grand Gôave along three main principals:
· Improvement of access to water, sanitation and hygiene: With the assistance of the community, Terre des hommes is developing sanitation systems in schools, wells and systems for collecting rain water. The people instructed in hygiene and “water committees” are responsible for the management of this essential resource.
- Improvement of the living conditions of children who have become separated, victims of negligence, physical, moral or sexual abuse or forced to work: Terre des hommes assists children at risk of mistreatment or exploitation when returning to their families and strengthens the family’s capacity to protect them.
- Preparation and prevention of the risks to which the people are exposed: access to temporary shelter in case of emergency, work to mitigate the risk of flooding, communal mapping tasks to teach communities about the risks around them.
