Hope for Haiti’s Disaster Preparedness & Relief Efforts
Natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes significantly impact the lives and well-being of Haiti’s most vulnerable communities. Hope for Haiti’s disaster preparedness and relief initiatives empower local resilience and position our team for rapid, effective response when disaster strikes.
Disaster Preparedness & Relief Initiatives
Community Preparedness
Hope for Haiti collaborates with local leaders, health workers, and schools to strengthen community disaster response capabilities by equipping families with essential tools and resources, including emergency first-aid kits and clean water filters.
Quality Infrastructure
Hope for Haiti works with our partner communities to strengthen, repair, and build new storm-resistant buildings to keep vital community spaces safe in the event of a disaster. At the end of 2023, we proudly inaugurated a new school in the rural community of Baradères, replacing the primary school that had been destroyed during the 2021 earthquake that devastated the south.
Emergency Medical Response & Food Distribution
With trained staff and essential medical supplies, our response team at the Infirmary St. Etienne is prepared to handle high patient volumes following earthquakes or hurricanes, providing immediate medical support to those injured, distribution of critical medications, clean water, and nutrition support, and long-term care options for those who need extended support after an injury. Plus, our team works with community members to distribute emergency supplies of food and water filtration systems to ensure families have immediate access to safe drinking water.
Our Response to the 2021 Earthquake
On August 14, 2021, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the southern region of Haiti, causing deaths, injuries, and severe damage to homes, schools, and important community infrastructure. The disaster came after an extremely challenging few years for Haitian families who have endured political and civil unrest, food, water, and economic insecurity, in addition to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Thanks to our more than 36 years of working in southern Haiti, and our more than 90% of team members who live and work in Les Cayes, our team was ready and uniquely qualified to respond to the immediate, short-term, and long-term needs of the Haitian people in the aftermath of the 2021 Earthquake.
Our Infirmary St. Etienne re-opened on August 16, providing wound care and clean water access to the community, and our other program team members quickly began distributing emergency supplies, including food, temporary housing, battery-operated lanterns, water filtration systems, and more.
Media Highlights
Our team’s rapid response to the earthquake garnered press attention from major outlets, including The New York Times, NBC, PBS, NPR, Good Morning America, and the TODAY Show. Fortunately, this exposure inspired donations from around the world, helping fund our much-needed emergency response efforts.
We also provided continuous updates on the earthquake’s effects throughout our partner communities and our response through social media posts and YouTube Videos. You can watch the full playlist of our video updates, beginning just 2 weeks after the earthquake, below.
