Dear Friends,
Shortly before 5pm on January 12, 2010 a 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, it’s epicenter 10 miles southwest of the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Since then, there have been reports of widespread death and destruction, with the collapse of houses, buildings, and walls all over the city and surrounding areas. The effects were felt in towns over a hundred miles away like Les Cayes and Jacmel, where large buildings collapsed. There were even shocks felt in Jérémie, which is 120 miles from the quake’s epicenter, with destruction of many houses there.
Friends for Health in Haiti’s staff is all accounted for, and there has been no damage to our home base in Jérémie. We do not yet have word as to the condition of our house-clinic up in Gatineau and whether there has been damage to any homes in that area. Cherlie Severe and I are presently in the US, where we have been actively seeking information regarding friends and family members in Port-au-Prince, some of whom we have still not heard from.
The devastation to the country of Haiti is massive and the impact of this disaster will be felt for years to come. The major emphasis in these early days is on search and rescue, as well as the provision of food, water and shelter to those who are homeless and we are grateful to see the international response to this need. It is anticipated that there will be significant medical needs in the near future for those who are in areas affected by the earthquake and we are in the process of determining where we can be of greatest assistance in this regard.
We are very concerned about the long-term impact of this earthquake on our clinic in the Jérémie area, since Port-au-Prince is the source of our medications and supplies. We keep a 3-4 month supply of medications at our home in Jérémie, but we expect that we will not be able to replenish our stock once these medications are used up. For this reason, we are asking for help with the following:
- Donations of medications that we use on an ongoing basis to be shipped down to us in Haiti to replenish our stock, which will run out in a few months (see list)
- Donations of medical supplies (see list)
- Financial assistance to cover shipping charges, as well as to purchase medications, medical supplies, construction supplies, etc.
We will be posting further details regarding shipping of these supplies once we have confirmed this information. If you have specific questions, please email us at friendsforhealth@gmail.com.
With gratitude,
Catherine E. Wolf, MD MPH