Haiti Earthquake & Hurricane

SITUATION OVERVIEW

Haiti also has the highest infant mortality rate in the Americas, and preventable illnesses such as cholera, tuberculosis and pneumonia are the main causes of death in children. Furthermore, the country has one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the world, and 100,000 Haitian children have lost parental care because of AIDS.

Only one in five Haitian children starts secondary school. Many drop out of school in order to work. According to the United Nations, roughly 300,000 children in Haiti work in conditions similar to slavery.

To make matters worse, natural disasters have devastated the lives of vulnerable children and their families.

CLICK THE TABS BELOW TO SEE THE DIFFERENCE IN OUR RESPONSES TO THE TWO DISASTERS!

Haiti 2010 Earthquake
Hurricane Matthew

In January 2010, a massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti. The earthquake killed 220,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands, who then spent months in unsafe tent camps and provisional shelters. Many of the children and families who survived the earthquake lost everything they had and experienced severe emotional trauma. Almost nine years later, many families have yet to recover from the disaster.

Thousands of children were orphaned by the earthquake or were abandoned by their parents, adding to the 440,000 children who were already growing up without parental care. What’s more, the earthquake was followed by a cholera epidemic and Hurricane Tomas, causing further damage.

SOS IN HAITI

3 villages
2 youth facilities
3 schools
1 training center
3 social centers
1 emergency relief program
471 orphaned and abandoned children
284 youth in SOS care

OUR ROLE: URGENT RESPONSE AND ONGOING CARE

Immediately after the earthquake, SOS Children’s Villages provided child protection and emergency relief support. Our food distribution program provided meals for over 24,000 children every day. In addition, over 400 unaccompanied children were welcomed at temporary housing in the SOS village in Santo, near Port-au-Prince.

We worked to reunite unaccompanied children with their families, and then enrolled the reunited families in our family strengthening program to provide ongoing support. Children who were orphaned by the earthquake found a permanent home at SOS Children’s Villages.

REBUILDING HAITI

Our emergency program for Haiti included construction, reconstruction and renovation projects. We also made significant investments in Haiti’s education system, with the construction or renovation of eight schools. The need for another SOS village in the country became clear soon after the earthquake, and we opened our third SOS village in 2015, in the city of Les Cayes.

In addition to our three villages (Santo/Port-au-Prince, Cap Haïtien and Les Cayes), SOS Children’s Villages supports community centers, family strengthening programs, and vocational training centers. We also run primary and secondary schools for over 2,200 children in the communities where our villages are located. Children from the local community attend alongside children in the care of SOS Children’s Villages.

Donate to help children and families who are still struggling to recover from the devastating effects of the earthquake.

In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew struck the southwestern coast of Haiti. It caused widespread damage and flooding, affecting around 2.1 million people. Directly after the hurricane, there was an urgent need for shelter, food, clean drinking water and medical care. Damaged infrastructure and contamination of water sources led to a rise in cholera cases.

In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, an additional 130,000 children were out of school and 10,000 children were in need of protection from exploitation and abuse.

OUR ROLE: GETTING FAMILIES BACK ON THEIR FEET

SOS Children’s Villages offered immediate emergency assistance to local families affected by Hurricane Matthew. In addition to repairing schools and community centers, we distributed food to over 520 families in the first month alone. Over 2,000 families received information on child protection and health care, and around 500 children suffering from trauma received psychological care.

INFOGRAPHIC: 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE HAITI EARTHQUAKE

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Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the Americas. Approximately 80% of Haitians live in poverty, usually without access to proper sanitation, electricity or running water.