Destroyed houses in the vicinity of the SOS Children's Village in Santo - Photo: SOS Archives

January 16, 2010: Rescue workers and a first relief convoy from SOS Children's Villages Dominican Republic and SOS Peru are working together to provide relief to orphans in Haiti.

None of the children or staff in the SOS Children's Village was hurt, but there is still no word from the hundreds of families receiving support through SOS Children's Villages' social services.

Aerial view of the SOS Children's Village in Santo - Photo: SOS Archives

Since the co-workers of SOS Children's Villages in Haiti have been personally affected by the catastrophe, emergency relief work will be taken on by a coalition of SOS Children's Villages' associations from several countries. The first relief convoy from the Dominican Republic is expected to arrive in Santo tomorrow, with a rescue team of SOS Children's Villages co-workers from Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic on board. They will be accompanied by some 15 to 20 trained experts in trauma counseling to help the children and families deal with the terror they have experienced.

On January 18, three staff members of SOS Children's Villages Peru will also reach the disaster area. These staff members planned and led the emergency relief effort in Peru after the country was hit by a severe earthquake in 2007. Their first delivery of goods will consist of staple foods, drinking water, medical and sanitary supplies. Other teams will bring blankets and tents from Panama. According to the regional director of SOS Children's Villages, Patricia Vargas, an increasing tendency towards violent attacks and rioting among the population of Haiti make an armed escort for the convoy indispensable. As she puts it, "we have nothing."

People desperately wait for food from the UN troops - Foto: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz - courtesy www.alertnet.org

The premises and buildings of the SOS Children's Villages Santo could serve as a base for relief work. According to Vargas, only the perimeter wall has been destroyed, with very little further damage to buildings. The facilities are situated in convenient proximity to the airport of Port-au Prince and have access to relatively serviceable roads. "We are one of the very few organizations with functioning facilities this close to the epicenter, possibly the only one," says Vargas. "We will therefore offer both our assistance and our facilities to other help organizations, too." The football field of the SOS Children's Village Santo could well become the location for a mobile hospital; a proposition to that extent has already been made by a medical institution in the Dominican Republic. Furthermore, SOS Children's Villages will meet several other help organizations for children today, all member organizations of the Global Movement for Children, in the hopes of developing a joint plan of action.

As soon as the SOS rescue teams have reached the area, a detailed rescue plan will be developed. This will focus on:

1) stabilizing the situation of SOS families and co-workers in Santo as well as repair work on facilities of the SOS Children's Village and the national office in Port-au-Prince.

2) finding the biological families of children being cared for in the SOS Children's Village and providing them with what they need most urgently.

3) establishing temporary child care centers for children who are not accompanied by adults or who do not know where their parents are at facilities of SOS Children's Villages, especially at the SOS Hermann Gmeiner School in Santo, which has also not been damaged.

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