World Cares Center has been actively involved in providing aid to the Caribbean nation of Haiti – one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. From the massive earthquake in 2010 to Hurricane Matthew in 2016, WCC has worked with the people of Haiti as they struggle to recover against insurmountable obstacles to the 2021 earthquake and Hurricane Grace.
Aside from trying to provide immediate supplies such as food and clothing, WCC has focused on a much larger initiative of bringing disaster preparedness, disaster management training, cholera prevention training, family water purification filters, and much more by building the capacity of the community to receive and distribute these items. We are often the only outside responders in the hard-to-reach communities, conducting outreach, identifying local leaders, providing training, and then supporting them in distributing supplies.
TIMELINE
January 12, 2010 – A catastrophic magnitude 7 earthquake strikes Haiti with the epicenter approximately 16 miles west of Port-au-Prince. Death toll estimates are well over 100,000 with over a million left homeless.
Within two weeks, WCC deploys and begins training Haitian community leaders from Les Anglais to Citi Soliel. WCC works with locals to set up and manage community resource centers. This first team of WCC trained local responders – WCC Ayiti (Haiti in Haitian Creole) continues to serve their communities.
WCC returns to the US and organizes clothing and supply drives as well as medical deployments to Haiti.
October 4, 2016 – Hurricane Matthew strikes Haiti, leaving a trail of destruction across the island nation. The hurricane causes loss of life, extensive flooding and mudslides, damage to critical infrastructure, and devastation to agriculture and other sources of livelihood.
WCC deploys a team to return to the region of Jeremie, Haiti in the aftermath of the storm. With the help of the original Haiti (Ayiti) team, WCC trains 80 local leaders in disaster response and distribution management. WCC supports local leaders and responders as they organize their community, establish distribution locations and prioritize the neediest. With the help of WCC training, the local leaders quickly devise and organize a ticket distribution system which results in over 400 hygiene kits being delivered directly to survivors.
January 2017 – WCC receives a grant through Peace Boat to fund a return mission to Jeremie. Working with the same community leaders from the first mission, WCC provides cholera prevention training and delivers 750 family water filters which will provide clean, cholera-free water to over 10,400 individuals. WCC finds the Haiti team that was trained on the first visit has grown even more dedicated to the WCC mission of empowering communities.
August 2021 – 7.2 earthquake hits the island causing devastation across the country. Rescue efforts to find people who could be trapped under the rubble were delayed due to Hurricane Grace which also added to the disaster. WCC Haitian team has been on-site conducting assessments to determine what supplies are needed to assist in the recovery.
