From earthquakes, to hurricanes to cholera Aid for Haiti responds to disasters in Haiti.
January 12, 2010, a 7.0 earthquake hits Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It’s late afternoon. Schools are finishing up, and people are getting off work. When suddenly, the earth begins to rumble. Buildings collapse. Power goes out. Thousands are dead. Others are screaming. And then, the sun goes down. In a single moment, their whole world was changed by a rare and unrecognizable event. Each day, we hear the growing fatigue our friends voices as they work to gather, feed, and care for the survivors. After expending their own resources, our friends plead to us for help. They are exhausted, hungry, and in dire need of medical care.
Soon, an AFH team arrives in Port au Prince. We are able to set up a makeshift clinic and distribute medical care, food, and water to our dear friends in PAP and Carrefour. A few days later, out of sheer need, AFH moves on to Petit Goave, a town located near the epicenter of the earthquake. We convert a ministry compound into a field hospital. Since the city hospital has been deemed unsafe, we assume responsibility of all care for the entire city. Overnight, Dr. Caleb serves as the only doctor for an area of 150,000. “We are on our 5th delivery of the night; one person showed up dying of a simple asthma attack; and there seems to be a never ending line of new trauma sustained during the earthquake.” After only two hours of sleep, Dr. Caleb states, “God has blessed us though. It seems that every time we turn around, there is a new critical patient with a problem out of our scope, but we seem to have just the right medicine at just the right time. You can tell God is doing a wonderful thing here.”
Even when overwhelmed, God has provided a way. AFH has provided continuous medical care to the area of Petit Goave. We would never have been able to do this without the help of the multiple volunteer physicians, nurses, EMTs, the Haitian nurses, as well as people like you and your continued prayer and financial support. During the first months after the earthquake, we treated about 18,000 patients, delivered 160 babies and did many minor surgeries as we served as the main care for a city of 150,000 people. Due to the hard work on the ground by Michael Rudolph and others, many people in the area are now alive and well.