How to help after deadly earthquake shakes Haiti and storm looms

Aid groups are scrambling to respond to a series of crises that have ravaged Haiti.

A tropical storm is now threatening to worsen conditions in Haiti, after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the nation on Saturday, killing and injuring thousands, with totals climbing as officials on the ground learn more.

Aid organizations are still assessing the damage on the ground, but Mercy Corps, whose team is currently working in Nippes, one of the hardest-hit areas, told Mashable in an email that there are many collapsed buildings disrupting people’s access to roads and, thereby, supplies.

“We’re hearing that in the community of L’Asile, about 50 percent of homes have been destroyed,” Lynn Hector, the director of media and communications at Mercy Corps, said. “Initial reports from our team indicate that people are in need of clean water, food, hygiene kits, tents, tarps or other shelter support, blankets, medical care and medicine, and construction materials to repair damaged homes. We are currently sending additional team members to Nippes from Port-au-Prince and quickly mobilizing a response.”

According to CNN meteorologist Haley Brink, Tropical Depression Grace could hit the already-badly hurt Dominican Republic and Haiti on Monday.

“I am worried about the upcoming storm as it can complicate the situation for us,” Jerry Chandler, head of Haiti’s civil protection agency, said on Sunday, according to CNN.

The devastating earthquake and storm warnings come as the nation continues to grapple with the July assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, and coincides with palpably difficult political times in the nation just 11 years after another major earthquake hit southwest of Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince.

“This disaster coincides with political instability, rising gang violence, alarmingly high rates of malnutrition among children, and the COVID-19 pandemic — for which Haiti has received just 500,000 vaccine doses, despite requiring far more,” UNICEF said in a statement. “It is now especially urgent to reach those impacted by the earthquake with the vaccine.”

In response, The United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, has deployed an urban search and rescue team and the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team to lead the U.S. government’s response efforts to Saturday’s earthquake. The team includes 65 first responders and four canines who will join the operations, along with 52,000 pounds of specialized tools and equipment. Tennis star Naomi Osaka, whose father is from Haiti, promised to donate all of her winnings from the Western & Southern Open to Haiti relief efforts.

“Really hurts to see all the devastation that’s going on in Haiti, and I feel like we really can’t catch a break,” she tweeted on Saturday. “I’m about to play a tournament this week and I’ll give all the prize money to relief efforts for Haiti. I know our ancestors blood is strong we’ll keep rising.”

You don’t have to have winnings from a major tennis match to help those affected by the crisis in Haiti, though.

Mercy Corps is working to help those most affected by the crisis in Haiti.
Credit: courtesy mercy corps

Here are a few organizations facilitating relief efforts for Haiti on the ground, and what you can do to help them:

Mercy Corps has a team of 19 in Nipples, near the epicenter of the earthquake, and is sending additional staff from Port-au-Prince to Nipples to determine how they can support the people most affected, particularly those with high rates of poverty and hunger.

You can donate to Mercy Corps to help their cause in Haiti. It’s unclear if your donation will be earmarked only for its Haiti efforts on its online donation platform.

Partners In Health, an organization that works to bring modern medical science to those most in need, has a sister organization in Haiti called Zanmi Lasante, which was founded in the 1980s to respond to the health needs of those in rural Cange. Since then, they’ve expanded to a network of over a dozen clinics and hospitals and have become the country’s largest healthcare provider outside of the government.

Donations to PIH’s sister organization Zanmi Lasante will go directly to organizing staff and supplies to respond to the recent disaster in the country.

The Doctors Without Borders team in Port-à-Piment and an emergency medical team from Port-au-Prince have been assisting those in need since the earthquake hit. The hospital in Port-à-Piment, which is where Doctors Without Borders typically provides sexual and reproductive healthcare, was damaged during the quake. Hospital staff evacuated patients to a tent where they are continuing to receive care along with patients who were injured during the earthquake.

You can donate to help the organization, which will continue helping in the coming days by sending more medical teams and surgeons and preparing to send medical and emergency supplies from abroad. You can’t earmark specifically for the Haiti response, so your donation will generally support Doctors without Borders.

UNICEF staff in Haiti has medical kits to support 30,000 people and extra health, water, and sanitation supplies are on the way. The organization says it will stay positioned in Haiti with emergency supplies for the many affected by this national disaster, and it is calling on all armed actors — including those involved in gang violence — to allow them to safely access those most in need of help.

“Now and in the days to come, UNICEF will remain on the ground working with the Government and our partners to reach vulnerable children and families,” the group said in a statement. Donations made to UNICEF will go directly to helping the organization respond to the disaster if you specify you want to designate your money for its Haiti efforts online.

The World Central Kitchen, founded by chef José Andrés, is working with culinary students in Port-au-Prince to make meals for first responders following the natural disaster in the country. The WCK is working with the Haitian Health Foundation and the Haiti Air Ambulance as they transport doctors and evacuate the injured. You can make a donation to support WCK, but there is no option online to earmark your donation for its efforts in Haiti. You can also make donations directly to the Haitian Health Foundation or the Haiti Air Ambulance.

Tweet may have been deleted

The Haitian Red Cross staff and volunteers are working with local authorities and other organizations to help those in need with first aid, search-and-rescue operations, and sheltering efforts all while attempting to prevent and control the transmission of COVID-19. You can make a donation to help their work generally, but the online portal doesn’t have an option to designate money directly for the current crisis.

This story will be updated with more resources as they become available.