haiti fact sheet 2-2-10
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8/14/2019 Haiti Fact Sheet 2-2-10
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MERCY CORPS BEGINS FOCUS ON
CREATING JOBS, HEALING CHILDRENIn addition to meeting immediate needs bybringing clean water and better sanitation to twohard-hit neighborhoods, Mercy Corps is working
to create 7,000 jobs cleaning wells, clearing
streets and hauling away debris. We also are
launching a psycho-social support program calledComfort for Kids to help ease post-quake traumain children.
Mercy Corps has a long track record of helpingcommunities transition from receiving aid to
carrying out their own recovery after naturaldisasters. Our team of humanitarian first
responders in Haiti includes experts in emergencydistribution, water, food, shelter, health, logistics,trauma support and job creation.
Creating Jobs, Hastening Economic RecoveryStores in Haiti are opening and street vendors are
setting up their goods, but wares are expensiveand very few people have jobs so theyreunable to purchase the things their families need
to survive.
Mercy Corps is scheduled to begin cash-for-workprograms next week in the Petionville andTabarre communities of Port-au-Prince. We
anticipate that cash-for-work will ramp up toprovide more than 7,000 people with short-term
jobs doing essential recovery tasks such asclearing debris and agricultural land, and cleaningwells.
Our program will allow earthquake survivors to
earn a daily wage, get money in their pockets and resume the flow of cash into Haitis economy.
The next critical steps in re-booting Haitiseconomy will include cash grants so that people
can rebuild assets like small businesses, fishing
boats and food carts. We are also looking intopartnerships using microfinance and remittances
to allow nascent businesses to stabilize and grow.
Mercy Corps is already working with microfinance
provider FONKOZE to help recapitalize its clientspost-earthquake. Efforts like this are essential to
return Haitis economy to a functioning state, both
in Port-au-Prince and in the provinces to whichmany of the citys now-homeless are returning.
Haitians living in tent camps desperately need work in order to earnmoney to pay for goods. Mercy Corps is starting cash-for-workprograms to provide short-term jobs. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy
Corps
Providing Healing Support to ChildrenWhen the earthquake struck, schools in Port-au-Prince collapsed. A full assessment of the
quakes impact on education in Haiti is not yetdone, but reports from the Education Minister
state that half the 15,000 primary schools and1,500 secondary schools, as well as the three
main universities, were destroyed or badlydamaged. Because schools were open when the
quake hit, many students and teachers died
inside. The Ministry of Education collapsed, killingmany staff members.
Haitian children who survived the earthquakeexperienced trauma that could negatively affect
them for life.
Early next week, Mercy Corps will shipapproximately 5,000 Comfort for Kids kits, for
distribution to Haitian children. Offering children
these kits, which include items such as a plushblanket and a stuffed animal, is the first step inMercy Corps efforts to help Haitian children
overcome the emotional trauma of theearthquake.
Our Comfort for Kids counseling methodology isdesigned to help restore childrens sense of well-
Last year, Mercy Corps helped 16.7 million people turn crisis into opportunity.
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being after a trauma. It was first developed in
New York by Mercy Corps and Bright Horizons, aglobal workplace childcare provider, to help
children recover from the trauma of 9/11.
Subsequently, Mercy Corps has used Comfort forKids to help children recover from the China
(2008) and Peru (2007) earthquakes andHurricane Katrina (2005).
Mercy Corps Haiti country director Bill Holbrook surveys thewreckage. Our longer-term programs will help Haiti recover and
rebuild in the capital as well as the provinces. Photo: CassandraNelson/Mercy Corps
Health, Clean Water and Sanitation
Mercy Corps plans to help tens of thousands ofsurvivors access vital clean water and sanitation
services. Sanitation has been severely neglected,and our expert, Mugur Dumitrache, estimates that10,000 or more latrines are needed. The risk of
spreading disease can easily be avoided by
building safe, sanitary latrines.
Mugur has visited numerous communities in Port-au-Prince to work with locals and other NGOsidentifying ground water sources, and assessing
the quality of water and sanitation systems.
Distributing FoodMercy Corps emergency response team
delivered more than 15 metric tons of non-perishable food to the depleted pantry of the
General Hospital in Port-au-Prince. Our teambrought high-energy biscuits as well as enough
food staples rice, pinto beans, flour, vegetable
oil, sugar and salt to feed 1,000 GeneralHospital patients, their families and staff for twoweeks. We also financed the purchase of fresh
produce. With these provisions, the hospitals
kitchen staff can cook and serve the first hot
meals since before the earthquake.
A Foundation for Self-Sufficiency
The 7.0-magnitude January 12 earthquake inHaiti left 3 million people in need of aid,
exacerbating the dire humanitarian situation in thepoorest country in the Western Hemisphere. TheCaribbean nation suffers extreme hunger and
political instability, and this disaster only increasesthe needs of thousands of impoverished Haitian
families. Mercy Corps has special expertise indisaster response that establishes a foundationfor self-sufficiency.
HOW TO HELPMercy Corps is accepting donations toward ourearthquake response. Public support thus far hasbeen strong, and corporations such as
Amazon.com, Best Buy, Gap, Genentech, ITT
Corporation, Nike, and Trilogy/Voil and Western
Union have generously contributed to our efforts.
Mercy CorpsHaiti Earthquake Fund
PO Box 2669/Dept NR
Portland, OR 97208mercycorps.org888.256.1900
MEDIA INQUIRIESJoy Portella
Director of Communications
PROGRAM INQUIRIESKevin GrubbProgram [email protected]
Mercy Corps45 S.W. Ankeny Street
Portland, OR 97204503.896.5000
800.292.3355
mercycorps.orgFebruary 2, 2010