Haiti - supporting a community in crisis

27 June 2011

Our YMCA partners, rooted in their communities, can often respond to situations the rest of the world does not see or cannot access, working quickly with their communities to provide immediate aid and rebuild lives after the crisis.

Last year through our YMCA partner and the ACT Alliance we responded to the needs of those affected by the earthquake in Haiti.

Devastation

The earthquake in January 2010 was the country’s strongest earthquake in 200 years. 250,000 people died and 1.5 million were made homeless. Haiti YMCA, one of Y Care International’s smallest partners, lost its centre but still mobilised its network of local volunteers.

Relief effort

Working with the YMCA in the Dominican Republic, relief items were provided to thousands of families in the community. The ACT Alliance provided hundreds of thousands of people with tents, water, hygiene kits and baby kits, as well as longer-term rehabilitation projects.

Survivors of Haiti's devastating earthquake take a break with their daughter after working on their new house in Leogane, South of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.

ACT/Paul Jeffrey

After the initial relief effort, Y Care International helped YMCA Haiti to get hundreds of children back to school and provide trauma counseling.

Donations from Y Care International supporters provided relief packages, including essential water supplies, to people in temporary camps who had lost their homes.

Thank you for your donations which make our work possible and bring aid and support to communities in need.