Relief Continues Despite Obstacles
Thousands in Port au Prince receive CRS help amid destruction that complicates an already massive humanitarian crisis.
Author: Michael Hill
Catholic Relief Services workers unload ready-to-eat meals at a site for displaced Haitians in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. Despite massive logistical problems caused by the quake, CRS is able to get help to desperate Haitians in the capital city. Photo courtesy of Caritas.
Catholic Relief Services staff was working to unload a ship filled with food aid, a rare sight in Port-au-Prince, and helped get a hospital up and running as they struggled to overcome myriad logistical difficulties to get aid to the Haitian people.
"It may look to many in the rest of the world that those in need are not receiving any aid, but actually thousands here in Port-au-Prince have gotten help," says Karel Zelenka, CRS country representative. "It must be understood that the apocalypse occurred in a place where there was hardly any infrastructure before – hence the huge logistical challenges.
"Whatever those challenges, we know that the destruction of this earthquake was so vast that even if thousands have gotten help, many, many more need assistance," he said. "We are all working hard to see that they get it."
CRS, which has committed at least $25 million for relief and recovery in Haiti, has received $13.1 million in cash donations and commitments thus far.
On the ground CRS is working with partners from Caritas, the international Catholic aid network, to coordinate their aid response. The agency is also joining most aid groups in working with the United Nations as it becomes functional following the destruction of its Haiti headquarters and the death of many of its workers in the 7.0 magnitude quake.
At the heavily damaged port in Port-au-Prince, a ship carrying 1,500 metric tons of supplies from USAID Food for Peace docked in the one operational berth. CRS personnel worked to offload the containers as they planned for a secure and orderly distribution.
"Finding suitable distribution points is a big challenge because you have crowd control issues when a big crowd arrives," says Donal Reilly, deputy director of the emergency response team for CRS. "When we've got so little to give compared to the needs, it's difficult, as you may not have enough for everyone."
At the St. Francois de Sales hospital—which has been working with CRS as part of the AIDSRelief consortium—CRS delivered enough medical and food supplies to allow the doctors there to perform their first operation since the earthquake. Though the surgery was conducted in a habitable building of the hospital, CRS staff say the facility is about 70 percent destroyed and will need a long-term reconstruction.
CRS has formed six medical teams—each consisting of a medical doctor and a nurse—to provide primary care at several sites where people have gone for shelter. At one site, an AIDSRelief doctor began providing care on his own. When CRS staff discovered this, they made plans to get him medical supplies.
CRS trucks coming from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republican brought in enough food for 2,500 people for several days as well as hygiene kits and plastic sheeting for shelter. CRS has been distributing such materials at several informal camps and other places where the homeless gathered after the earthquake.
Michael Hill is CRS' communications officer for sub-Saharan Africa. He is based at the agency's headquarters in Baltimore.
Catholic Relief Services
