MercyWorks

Tyler, TX January 13, 2010:  YWAM MercyWorks is responding to the worst earthquake to strike Haiti since 1770.  MercyWorks has several ER doctors who have already indicated their readiness and availability to go.  Their initial job is to immediately take care of people affected by the 7.0 earthquake, then over time transition to primary care.  Our plan is to send waves of teams to the area to sustain ongoing restoration efforts.  The first MercyWorks team is tentatively scheduled to depart tomorrow, and will focus on providing medicines, food and help with rebuilding efforts.

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The response effort will be immensely challenging.  The earthquake occurred 45 minutes before the sun set and due to the loss of electricity, people were in total darkness.  Phone service was lost, keeping people from getting in touch with family and friends.  Dozens of aftershocks measuring up to 5.9 kept people awake throughout the night.  Even before the earthquake, there was little to no emergency services in Haiti.  Most of the people survive on less than $2 per day.  Haiti’s envoy to the US described the earthquake as a “catastrophe” and says the damage from the earthquake could run into billions of dollars.

Henry Bahn, a visiting official from the US Department of Agriculture reported just minutes after the earthquake of seeing houses that had tumbled into a ravine.  He went on to say “Everybody is just totally, totally freaked out and shaken” and described the sky as “just grey with dust.”

We have heard from Terry Snow, our YWAM Haiti national director several times since Tuesday evening’s earthquake.  All the YWAMers in St. Marc and Gonaives are accounted for and buildings received only relatively minor damage so the YWAMers are in a good position to assist in short-term relief as well as long-term response efforts.

Earlier this morning, Snow reported “We were up early to see the video footage and pictures of the Presidential Palace destroyed and so many other buildings.  Communications are still down so we have sent our own assessment team into Port-au-Prince to see the true nature of the devastation and how we can respond.  Haiti has no infrastructure, much less a crisis management team.”

Haiti’s President Rene Preval told the media “Parliament has collapsed.  The tax office has collapsed.  Schools have collapsed.  Hospitals have collapsed.  There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them.”

The international Red Cross estimates a third of Haiti’s nine million people may need emergency aid and said Haiti’s disaster relief teams are “completely overwhelmed.”  Many people are still trapped in the rubble from the killer quake.  The United Nations reports Port-au-Prince’s main airport is “fully operational”, however roads are filled with rubble and debris and the artery connecting the airport to the city is blocked.  If aid cannot travel over the airport road to Port-au-Prince, it may be rerouted through the Dominican Republic.

Governments and global companies are responding with pledges of financial aid as well as human resources such as rubble-clearing specialists, rescue units of engineers and medics, firefighters, etc.

After hurricane Katrina, which so devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, the people most impacted came to realize it was not government or corporate aid that made the biggest difference, but rather the body of Christ responding in a multi-year commitment long after the cameras and world’s attention shifted elsewhere.

I invite you to be a part of the YWAM MercyWorks response to this devastating loss of life and property by joining a response team and/or by making a generous financial donation.  Your gift will help with the procurement of medicines, food and assisting in the reconstruction and rebuilding efforts.

We will also be needing medical personnel to assist with this effort as well as other volunteers.  We will need grief counselors and construction crews in the days and weeks ahead.  Please contact us if you can go.  Lastly please keep these precious people in your prayers.

MercyWorks brings hope and lasting change to people afflicted by war, famine, extreme poverty and natural disaster.  Now is the time for the body of Christ to rise up and demonstrate our commitment to the suffering poor.