It is the country's strongest earthquake in 179 years since 1842 - stronger than the 2010 Port-au-Prince earthquake.
The destruction is widespread across the entire southern peninsula. No community was spared clear out to the farthest tip of the island. There are many landslides across the road that leads into the mountains to go to the other coast as well as the main road that leads west to the tip of the island. Bridges are damaged and many are impassable. In Cayes and Jeremie most, if not all, stores and businesses have been heavily damaged or destroyed. In general, the infrastructure that southern Haiti had is badly damaged and severely crippled.
Benjamin observed that "It was the grace of God that it happened at the right time...people were up and out of their houses, schools were not in session and churches were not meeting". And it is true, had it happened at another time or day, schools and churches would have been full and the death toll would have been drastically higher. In the midst of the indescribable destruction, something to be thankful for.
BAD NEWS:
There have been regular, strong aftershocks. As you can imagine, the people are traumatized and nerves are frayed. They are afraid to go inside concrete structures and they are sleeping in their yards or out in open areas. Tropical storm Grace brought heavy rains and wind, bringing mudslides and flooding, creating more heartache.
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| Picot church - almost every church looks like this! |
Getting supplies from Port-au-prince has been severely impeded by gangs that control areas of the town and road that leads south. NGOs and government officials have negotiated a one-week truce with them to let supplies, containers, and personnel through. Pray as a convoy of containers and other vehicles will be going through that area in the coming days. RMI has 3 containers of food that will be a part of that convoy. It is needed now more than ever! Pray for its safe arrival.
RMI staff have been incredibly busy. They are sending out teams to visit as many of our C3 partner churches as they can get to. They will be taking pictures as well as gathering reports on how each church fared. We will forward these reports as they come in. We do know that every one of our partner churches has been affected.
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| Picot school - almost every school looks like this! |
MEBSH, the local church association that we partner with, is reporting that more than a quarter of their 400 churches and schools are destroyed and probably more than that number are heavily damaged.
God has uniquely prepared RMI for such a time as this. We have a good fleet of vehicles to move people and supplies. The water truck and earthmover are in much demand. Not too long ago, we installed an underground gas tank. This will sustain us for a while. We have a large staff that can help as we partner with many NGOs.
The solar power system is working very well, providing electricity for the office, the internet, the conference room (giving it a/c!) and the garage. We have opened the conference room to NGOs if they want to come, use the internet, plan, or even just take a breather. We have already hosted and facilitated a DART (Disaster, Assistance, and Response Team) as they evaluated the level of destruction, the condition, and the needs of the hospitals and clinics. We are making ourselves, staff, facilities, and equipment available to as many NGOs and groups as possible to be able to greatly expand our impact all over south Haiti.
Our hearts are so broken for dear Haiti. The devastation is hard to wrap our minds around. RMI's missionaries are anxious to return and get involved in the recovery efforts. Tessa has returned, the Starkeys will go home in a couple of weeks, the Nunemaker's shortly thereafter and the Tlucek's are finishing their deputation at the end of September.
At this point, we are not accepting teams until the fall. We know that many folks want to visit their Sister Churches, but we need time to get through this initial recovery phase before we would be ready to host a team. Your Sister Churches would love to have you visit, but with so much destruction they won't have the facilities to care for you. We will be organizing specialty teams (construction, medical, etc.) in the future.
HOW CAN YOU HELP RIGHT NOW?
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| RMI and Mission of Hope partnering together to distribute earthquake aid |
One big immediate need is for food (remember those 3 containers of food that coming?). Currently, RMI has 2,000 cases of food available. You can go here to purchase food. Each case is $35. At this time we are unable to provide any volume discounts. You can designate your Sister Church, but not individual families, or leave it undesignated for use where it is needed most.
Another very important and effective way to help is through financial donations. We need funds to facilitate our recovery efforts. This is vital to our service to the Lord throughout south Haiti. You can donate here.
You can donate to your Sister Church as well. They can use your assistance in this way now.
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| RMI and Mission of Hope delivering supplies to Bonne Fin Hospital |
It may sound trite to just ask for funds. But it is what we need most! This is really how you can help. Share this with your friends, your church, even at work. RMI is your conduit to make sure that your funds will be used as designated. We are your boots on the ground.
The need for prayer cannot be understated! We appreciate your involvement with us in this horrific disaster.
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