Mennonite Weekly Review

AKRON, Pa. — Mennonite Central Committee is working with a partner organization to provide water, food, medicine and temporary housing for people in Haiti affected by hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, is especially vulnerable to the effects of storms. Haitian authorities reported hundreds of deaths and acknowledged they hadn’t reached many areas of the country.

People stranded on rooftops clung to one another as they watched their crops being ruined and their livestock dying. Because their homes had already washed away, others waded the flooded streets, holding their belongings on their heads, while clutching the hands of their children.

With bridges collapsed and thick, muddy roads impassable, finding food and drinkable water is nearly impossible. The flooding has affected the existing water systems, making them unsafe.

In 2004, Hurricane Jeanne destroyed Gonaïves, killing 3,000, and this same northwestern port city was hit again this year. It is in a flood plain that quickly fills because much of the forest has been chopped down and used for fuel, allowing the water to rush down the mountains.

MCC partner Sant Kretyen Developman Entegre (Christian Center for Integrated Development) reports that several of its agricultural cooperatives in the area were destroyed.

MCC’s initial emergency commitment is for $35,000. SKDE’s initial assessment is that 1,000 people in their cooperatives are in desperate need. There are plans to reach these people with food, water and medicine.

MCC personnel Michel Garly, Guylene Hyacinthe, Margot de Greef and Ben Depp reached the area Sept. 12, though distribution of the supplies is taking longer than anticipated. Hyacinthe is helping to coordinate the response.

The medicine will be used to treat 200 people for infectious diseases. In addition, temporary housing will be found for 10 families.

David Martin, MCC material resources manager, confirmed that a container scheduled to ship to Haiti Sept. 28 will include health kits for flood victims.

Some resources might be sent from the Puerto Rico Material Resources Center as well.

Mark Epp, associate director for Latin America and the Caribbean, said more requests were coming in as staff continued to assess the conditions and to receive reports from many areas.