SOS Staff prepare for Hurricane Tomas at SOS Children's Villages - Santo, in Haiti

November 5, 2010: SOS children and staff at the SOS Children’s Village in Santo, Haiti, can already feel the wind beginning to build. With the likelihood that Hurricane or Tropical Storm Tomas will slam into Haiti in the next few days, SOS Children's Villages is not taking any chances. SOS-Santo staff are getting ready for the next act of nature coming their way. Their first priority is to make sure children are sheltered in the village’s safest buildings.

The UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs in Haiti projects that the storm could affect up to half a million people, particularly in coastal areas where there is danger of flooding. The hurricane comes to a country already plagued by abject poverty, a recent cholera outbreak, and a devastating earthquake that killed more than 250,000 people and left more than a million survivors living in tents.

On November 3 the Ministry of Education declared that all schools, both private and state-run, would be closed on Thursday and Friday so that children are not put at risk. Schools had already closed on November 1 and 2 for the All Saints holiday.

At the SOS-Santo, workers are securing or taking down anything loose such as the tent-classrooms. Eighty-six aunties (SOS mothers’ helpers) and children currently living in temporary shelters are being moved into empty classrooms where they will have solid walls around them and easy access to a kitchen and bathrooms.

The SOS Children’s Village in Cap Haitien is also taking precautions against the chance of high winds and heavy rain.

Storm Will Worsen the Cholera Epidemic

A temporary displacement camp on the edge of Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Nigel Fisher, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, told Reuters that his biggest concern is the flooding that the hurricane could cause and the potential to further spread cholera, which already has killed 442 Haitians.

The worst-case scenario is a fearsome storm that smashes multiple regions at the same time, leaving the government and aid community unable to cope, said Fisher.

Tomas’s core was expected to reach Haiti on Friday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Delivering Food, Shelter, and Emotional Refuge during Difficult Times

Haiti is frequently affected by hurricanes. As recently as 2008, the country was hit by four level-V hurricanes within just two months, leaving 77 people dead and more than 10,000 families without a home. SOS Children's Villages reacted by initiating an emergency relief program that provided 50 families with basic supplies over several months.

SOS Children’s Villages has put a large amount of resources into post-earthquake relief in Haiti—relief that continues to this day. Right after the January 12 quake, SOS-Haiti took in several hundred extra unaccompanied children. It has reunited many of those children with their families. At present, the SOS school at Santo enrolls 800 children in a combination of buildings and tents erected to expand capacity.

Many of the children under SOS care experienced horrific losses and arrived to SOS-Haiti’s gates traumatized. SOS brought in child trauma experts to help train teachers and design special activities to help heal these children’s emotional wounds.

Twelve-year-old Eribic, unable to save his disabled mother trapped in their small house, suffered nightmares for months. Angry, his behavior unpredictable, after individual counseling he has started coping with daily life. He now smiles and helps his SOS mother and siblings around the house.

Almost a year after Haiti’s terrible earthquake, thousands of children there remain without a home or parents. Help SOS give love and a home to a Haitian boy or girl.  Donate now.