Immediate relief
A vital shipment of Plan aid arriving in Jacmel, Haiti
Plan has worked in Haiti since 1973 and was able to respond immediately when the devastating earthquake struck.
As homeless children and families poured into makeshift camps, our staff and volunteers helped to support more than 22,000 people with immediate needs, including shelter and food. Emergency supplies were also prepared by Plan staff in the neighbouring Dominican Republic and a vital shipment of Plan aid was one of the first agency deliveries to arrive in the southern town of Jacmel, where 60% of buildings were damaged or destroyed.
As the immediate emergency situation came to an end, Plan made the transition from response to recovery focusing on education, health, child protection and livelihoods.
Our immediate response included:
Family survival kits
In the immediate weeks following the earthquake, Plan distributed thousands of family survival kits, benefiting more than 11,300 people. Each kit contained vital supplies such as food to support a whole family for a month, water purification tablets, tarpaulin sheets, towels, soap, plastic sheets, flash lights, cups and plates.
Learn more about our family survival kits
Shelter
22,000 people were provided with tents and basic non-food provisions in the direct aftermath of the earthquake. Plan, together with partner Irish NGO Haven, provided 100 wooden houses to mothers with young children who’d lost their husbands during the earthquake, that the families helped to construct.
Water and sanitation
In the first days of the disaster a Plan water truck was on hand to provide vital emergency water supplies in Croix-des-Bouquets. 23,000 people have received hygiene promotion kits and public health awareness messages. Plan has now rehabilitated the water system and installed a water tower at the local health centre, benefiting the whole community.
Plan constructed 30 block latrine stalls and communal shower stalls in several of the temporary camps for people made homeless by the disaster. Water points supplied with safe water were also installed on 7 sites. We also installed 45 mobile toilets across a number of sites.
Health
Plan secured a US$13,000,000 donation of essential drugs - including oral rehydration salts - which has been delivered to PROMESS, a department in the Ministry of Health. Plan prepares requests for mobile medicine kits from PROMESS and arranges delivery to our partners.
In Croix-des-Bouquets, Plan has partnered with Foyer Saint Camille and Bon Samaritain to increase the number of community mobile clinics in the area.
So far over 124,000 children have been vaccinated for measles, diphtheria and tetanus.
