A mother comforts her daughter who is lying on a stretcher with a broken leg, outside Peace Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Because of overcrowding, she is spending the night outside, in the rain. Lack of supplies has prevented this little girl from getting a proper cast. Fortunately, the World Vision truckload of supplies, which has just arrived, includes gypsum for plaster casts.
Since the Disaster
Since the disaster World Vision has been providing supplies to 11 hospitals and medical centres in Port-au-Prince. On January 20, a WestJet flight carrying $200,000 worth of supplies donated to World Vision arrived in the Haitian capital. World Vision staff immediately distributed the shipment, which included gloves, bandages, tubing, gowns and soap.
World Vision is also running mobile clinics for smaller injuries and a clinic/triage centre in Jimani, Dominican Republic. Many of the children who visited this centre have been separated from their families.
Many Children Affected
The recent earthquake in Haiti affects one in three Haitians. World Vision Canada urges the international community to remember an oft-forgotten statistic: almost 40 per cent of the Haitian population is under the age of 14. Many of those affected by the earthquake are children.
Many children have been separated from their parents and loved ones by this earthquake. It may take weeks for these children to be reunited with their relatives. Family-separated children are expected to become a top priority in the emergency response in coming days, weeks and months.
President Dave Toycen was in Port-au-Prince for a week following the earthquake. “There are so many children right now, by themselves, just roaming the streets in shock,” he says.
“I wish I could find their parents. These children should not be alone.”
A World Vision child protection specialist has arrived in Port-au-Prince to begin identifying separated children and reuniting them with their families.
Child Adoptions Must Be Halted
World Vision and other aid agencies issued a statement on January 20 calling for a temporary moratorium to take place on child adoptions from Haiti, until children can be properly identified, the family tracing process completed and legal protection measures taken. This will lessen the risk of children being exploited, trafficked and permanently separated from their families.
World Vision has also established “child-friendly” spaces in the quake zone. These spaces are structured and safe areas set up specifically for children and youth in crisis situations, where they can play and receive support services.
World Vision is also continuing emergency relief distributions on a daily basis. Since the earthquake, World Vision has airlifted five megatons of supplies including mosquito nets, tarps, blankets, survival kits and cooking utensils.
Please donate today to help families affected by this earthquake.
