On January 12, 2010, a major 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti on Tuesday, collapsing buildings in the capital Port-au-Prince and burying residents under rubble.  Aftershocks measuring 5.9 and 6.0 and Tsunami waves in six major communities all added to this epic disaster.  According to official estimates, 222,570 people were killed, and another 300,000 were injured.

Port-Au-Prince is one of the most densely populated cities in the world.  Buildings largely made with unreinforced concrete were compressed down to cumbersome piles of rubble that without large equipment made the recovery task nearly impossible.  This apocalyptic disaster left 1.3 million displaced, destroyed 97,294 houses and damaged 188,383 houses.  Now, makeshift shelters are threatened as the rainy season further deteriorates many of these communities.  Even with over 10,000 NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) operating in Haiti at the time of the disaster, still this country remained one of the poorest in the world with communities lacking basic healthcare.  This was only made more vulnerable after the disaster and into the later months as disease settled in to the temporary settlements.

Eight days after the earthquake struck, IMR took its inaugural trip into Haiti and has remained on the ground serving along side numerous other NGOS and still reaching untouched people groups who had not had relief since the disaster. Our First Responders included urgent care, orthopedic and trauma cases leading the first wave of relief, followed by wound care and post operative needs and then winding down with psychiatric care, dental and general medicine.  International Medical Relief volunteers have been providing relief efforts at two main hospitals – The General Hospital and the Partners in Health temporary facility at the Port-au-Prince airport, in addition to providing over 18 mobile clinics in makeshift settlements to areas with little or no access to healthcare.  International Medical Relief has placed over 100 Medical Volunteers on the ground and continues to send in medical teams to aid in the long term overall health of the Haitian people going forward.

Journal excerpts from an IMR Haiti Disaster First Responder ~

“the fact that the Haitians were doing what they could to continue their livelihoods was undoubtedly uplifting...While news reports about looting and civil disruption had amplified my paranoia before arriving in Port au Prince, I quickly came to appreciate the unifying forces in Haiti: a common will to recover, a desperation to survive, and a need for community interaction.”

“The Haitians generally remain stoic or smile appreciatively. But my heart brakes every time I hear a baby scream over the grinding from a plastering machine while his leg is being casted. And my heart breaks when I see that patient, one in every hundred, with fear in his or her eyes.”

“But the undeniable necessity for healthcare and human rights workers compels me to continue doing all that I can to help: to teardrop away from the flood that is the problems facing Haitians and others who suffer from marginalization, ignorance, and injustice only amplified by a tragically placed natural disaster.”

“Drivers point out where their family once lived, how their kids barely escaped, how they now know what is of greatest value in life.”

“No one cries in the streets.”

“Everyone seems to be trying to move forward with recovery and rebuilding. In a city now characterized by the weakness of physical foundations, the people demonstrate a strong tenacity and ardent conviction. The earthquake, however, is clearly only one of many disasters and one of many tragedies to hit Port-au-Prince.”