News Alert: Project HOPE Responds to Deadly Flooding, Landslides, and Earthquake in Haiti
A 4.9 magnitude earthquake struck Jérémie, Haiti Tuesday morning, causing buildings to immediately collapse. This comes on the heels of weeks of severe flooding that has displaced over 13,000 people and killed over 50 people, as well as the reemergence of cholera in Haiti and escalating insecurity country-wide that has driven the costs of food and fuel to unsustainable levels.
Moments after the earthquake struck, Project HOPE staff began providing care to people injured by the earthquake at the central hospital in Jérémie where Project HOPE supports a Cholera Treatment Center. Project HOPE has provided additional medicine and supplies and is deploying staff to help treat the influx of patients. We are working with a local partner to launch a mobile medical unit to treat patients in Marfranc, a commune in Jérémie that has been heavily impacted by the earthquake. Project HOPE’s teams distributed hygiene kits to flood-affected households on Monday.
Dr. Didinu Tamakloe, Project HOPE Country Director for Haiti, said:
“People are panicking. Disasters keep hitting Haiti, left and right. People have not had sufficient time to recover from previous disasters, only to be hit by flash floods, an earthquake, and landslides in a matter of days.
Immediately after the earthquake struck Jérémie, our team began treating patients at Saint Antonine Hospital, which is inundated with patients and severely overcrowded. It is standing room only as people cry out with open wounds. Many people with severe injuries are unable to access medical care due to road conditions and gas prices.
Haiti’s health care system is hanging on by a thread and cannot handle the inundation of patients. Health workers are exhausted and haven’t been paid in months, hospital beds are propped on cinderblocks and covered with cardboard, and pharmacy shelves are empty as lifesaving medicine and medical supplies remain stuck in Port-au-Prince due to gang violence making it costly and dangerous to access. Haitians are resilient but they are tired of being resilient and they desperately need support.”
Project HOPE’s team members in Haiti are available for interviews – fluent in English, Spanish, and French – providing first-hand accounts of the dire situation unfolding on the ground.
Project HOPE has been actively involved in addressing Haiti’s complex humanitarian crisis, with a particular focus on health care, protection, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) needs, especially in response to the recent cholera outbreak. Over the last two weeks, Project HOPE has distributed hygiene kits to nearly 250 families in Grand Sud and continues to support Cholera Treatment Centers across the country. Project HOPE recently conducted a humanitarian needs assessment underscoring the severity of the health crisis in Haiti.