Chil­dren are vul­ner­a­ble after the Haiti earth­quake. World Con­cern human­i­tar­i­ans are try­ing to recon­nect them with liv­ing fam­ily members.

The direc­tor of World Concern’s human­i­tar­ian oper­a­tions in Haiti called this morn­ing, after a mobile phone net­work was repaired. Chris­ton Domond said they need our sup­port imme­di­ately. The city of Port Au Prince is over­whelmed by dead bod­ies, and the crit­i­cal needs for sur­vivors include clean water, med­i­cine, blan­kets, plas­tic sheet­ing — and now — food.

World Concern’s Senior Direc­tor of Tech­ni­cal Sup­port (the dis­as­ter lady) Merry Fitz­patrick, expects she will be able to fly out of Miami today to assist with the logis­tics. If a hur­ri­cane, civil war or earth­quake hit your com­mu­nity, she’s the per­son you’d want with you, guid­ing you through the process.

Chris­ton has been able to con­tact most of the staff, but not all. His fam­ily sur­vived. We are also hear­ing about rel­a­tives of staff mem­bers who were killed in the earth­quake. The pri­mary World Con­cern build­ing in Haiti remains stand­ing and it is likely that the staff and their fam­i­lies who have lost their homes will live there for the fore­see­able future.

World Con­cern employs more than 100 peo­ple in Haiti, a staff of peo­ple native to the coun­try, who are trained and ready to respond. Though they may have lost their own homes, and even rel­a­tives, they have begun their crit­i­cal, life-saving work. In the past, they have suc­cess­fully responded to many dis­as­ters, includ­ing three 2008 hurricanes.

Seattle-based World Con­cern has worked in Haiti since 1978 and cur­rently pro­vides hope to 125,000 peo­ple. Our work with the poor includes micro­fi­nance, agri­cul­ture, dis­as­ter response and small busi­ness devel­op­ment. World Con­cern works with the poor in 24 coun­tries, with the goal of trans­form­ing the lives of those we touch, lead­ing them on a path to self-sustainability.

World­wide, World Con­cern offers life, oppor­tu­nity and hope to more than six mil­lion people.

Give online: www.worldconcern.org, or call 1–866-530‑5433

Aver­age Cost of Dis­as­ter Supplies:

Blan­kets: $50 for a fam­ily of five

Plas­tic Sheet­ing: $20 per fam­ily. Good for shel­ter, lin­ing latrines, other uses

Water purifi­ca­tion: $10 for 100 gallons

Food: $1 per meal

Like

Unlike