CARE's Response to the Haiti Earthquake

19.01.10

A massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake has struck the Caribbean nation of Haiti.

Numbers remain extremely difficult to confirm but the widely accepted figure is 3 million affected and estimates of up to 50,000 dead. Infrastructure is severely damaged with hospitals affected, roads badly damaged and phone lines and electricity still not functioning.

CARE has had a presence in Haiti since 1954 supporting projects in HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, maternal and child health, education, food security and water and sanitation. We have over 130 staff, the majority of whom have been contacted. Unfortunately, many have lost family members, especially children, and homes.

CARE has deployed several emergency staff. Hauke Hoops, the Emergency Coordinator for the region, arrived yesterday and SMS (text) with him is currently the most reliable form of communication with the country office. Others including an Emergency Coordinator, Media Coordinator, photographer arrived in the Dominican Republic yesterday and will be travelling onto Port au Prince in daylight today.

CARE’s focus areas for response include food, non food items and shelter. Our overall fundraising target is $ 10 million over a three year period. This timeframe is critical to include immediate relief and longer term recovery. With such severe damage to homes and infrastructure, recovery and rehabilitation will be an extended process. CARE is expecting the arrival of 60,000 water purification tablets to arrive today for immediate distribution and will be working with World Food Programme on food distributions. We are also participating in joint assessments on Water and Sanitation.

So, if you are keen to sign up for a challenge in 2010 and raise funds to help the people of Haiti please follow this link. We have lots of exciting challenges, with ranging difficulty, so why not commit to get fit again this year?

For more information on our work, visit www.careinternational.org.uk . Or, if you would like to donate to the DEC appeal please visit www.dec.org.uk .
 
 

CARE International UK Reg. Charity No. 292506. CARE International UK, 10-13 Rushworth Street, London SE1 0RB. Registered company limited by gurantee (England & Wales): 1911651. Website by Joomkit.

CARE challenge are an in-house charity fundraising team. We offer many exciting charity events that you can join. All our charity challenges offer amazing adventures outdoors and lots of our activities take place over adventure weekends. If charity runs are your thing, then we have lots to offer - 10K runs, half marathons and many other running events. Or, how about cycling events for charity? We certainly have lots to offer in the charity cycling department. There are charity rides where you can cycle London to Brighton or you can even do a charity bike ride from London to Paris, if London to Brighton isn't far enough! We also have some charity walks and hikes. Later this year we have a sponsored walk that is 25 miles long in order to celebrate the 25th anniversary of CARE International's UK office. If activities outdoors and adventure weekends get your adrenalin pumping, then why not sign up for one of our mountain challenges? We have numerous charity challenges on mountains over the year from three peaks challenges to 24 peaks challenges - if you think you're up to it! For many of our charity fundraising events you can register as a teamleader or part of a team. We believe our charity challenges offer great teambuilding activities and are really great for team events. So if you're interested in corporate team building through a great charity challenge then the CARE Challenge Series is for you. Click here to see all our charity challenges.