Interview conducted by David Rochkind

Mireille Henry, 44, sits where the foundation of her home used to be on January 7, 2013. Mireille lost everything during the earthquake of January 10, 2010. © 2013 David Rochkind/CARE

Milton, Haiti (January 2013) – Three years ago, a massive earthquake destroyed Mireille Henry's home in Haiti, killing her mother and trapping her daughter under the rubble for five hours.

The mother of four lost everything she owned. Mireille didn't even have a spoon to feed her children, she says, or a blanket to keep them warm. She relocated to a field with her family. On the luckiest days, they got to sleep under a tree.

It's been a challenging – and chaotic – journey for Mireille, 44, since the earthquake that affected millions of Haitians and left hundreds of thousands in displacement camps. But Mireille has rebuilt her life, through the help of her community and an innovative microsavings program.

In 2011, CARE introduced a Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) in Haiti and Mireille's community. The program serves the poorest of the poor – people who do not otherwise have access to the types financial services much of the world takes for granted.

Every group of 20- 30 women receives intensive financial training. And the group's members contribute a minimum of roughly $2.00 each to the group's savings fund every week. The women can borrow from the group fund to invest in small businesses, pay for seeds and fertilizer or cover important family expenses, such as school fees and doctor's visits. The loans are repaid quickly, with a low interest rate, set by the group members. The interest is then shared with everyone in the group as profit, distributed as "pay-outs."

Today, there are nearly 5,000 VSLA participants in Haiti, and 81 percent of them are women. These groups have saved a total of $179,646.00!

Mireille received three loans through the VSLA program, which she used on her children's schooling. And she plans to use her next pay-out to restart her fabric business.

Before the earthquake, Mireille purchased fabric in bulk and then resold the material at the market near her home. When the earthquake destroyed her home, she tried to salvage the fabric that was left. She stored some at the market, but it was all stolen, leaving her with nothing.

Eager to start her business again, Mireille says the VSLA has taught her how to save funds that will bring her fabric business back to life.

"Even though we don't have a lot of money, we now have a way to save," she says. "We don't have to go to a bank. I'm very proud of that, and I want to see this continue in the future."

Mireille, like many others in her community, are making strides since the tragic earthquake. Today, she lives in a small home with walls made out of tarps and a ceiling of aluminum. Her new home sits right next to the foundation of her former home.

With hope and determination, Mireille continues to participate in VSLA in order to increase her income and strengthen her financial planning skills. She also volunteers as the group's treasurer, and the group admires her strong-willed and serious nature. Mireille is responsible for keeping track of money – counting and verifying it at each weekly meeting – and for keeping the cash box safe.
Her VSLA group has lots of big ideas, Mireille says. They've thought about opening a bakery together or starting a sewing studio.

Mireille says she especially enjoys showing other women, who are not part of VSLA, how much the program has helped her. She has encouraged many of these women to participate, and use it as an outlet for their voices to be heard within the community.

"I know that women can be strong leaders," she said. "I really believe that. I want to become a better leader, a stronger leader, myself."

DONATE NOW >

"CARE's vision is to fight against worldwide poverty and to protect and enhance human dignity. CARE Japan decided to respond to this disaster to protect and enhance human dignity of the affected population. Mega disasters, even in developed contexts, can leave people with absolutely nothing in the immediate aftermath, push self-sufficient populations into poverty, eradicate years of development and threaten people's right to life with dignity. Today, I can firmly say: If the same scale of earthquake hits Japan, we'll respond again. This is a firm commitment shared among all the staff of CARE Japan.

CARE Japan has decided to run our psychosocial program until June 2013.One year has passed since the earthquake and tsunami. Temporary housing compounds have been built. Many more stores are restarting their business. And, newly developed local organizations are now playing a major role in initiating recovery efforts. Still, the psychosocial effects of the disaster remain present. Many of the survivors are struggling to overcome the events of March 11. "I sometime do nothing but keep watching TV which is not showing anything," told an elderly lady who wanted to be anonymous to a CARE staff at a community café CARE supports.

CARE had completed the food program in June 2011, and now focuses more on community relief and psychosocial support to help people recover from the trauma. The needs of the people in the affected area will shift as the time passes. CARE continues to coordinate with local authorities and other aid agencies in order to identify the needs and reach the most vulnerable people."

Haiti – 2 year anniversary of earthquake

Like so many places in Haiti, idyllic natural beauty and the harsh reality of deep poverty collide in Tiawa.

Perched atop a mountain in Léogâne, Tiawa affords an extraordinary view of the surrounding area. Unfortunately, much of that vista is scarred by destruction. Haiti's devastating January 12, 2010 earthquake destroyed 80 to 90 percent of the buildings in Léogâne, according to official estimates. It was the area hardest hit by the quake.

In Tiawa, the quake gave rise to an impromptu camp of 1,500 people; people who had lost many members of their families, and nearly all of their possessions. CARE began supporting the families with emergency relief supplies immediately after the earthquake. Now CARE is helping them make the transition from recovery to rebuilding.

Today the camp's population is steadily dwindling. Many residents have rebuilt their homes. Others have moved to improved shelters built with assistance from CARE or other aid groups.

Jean Elie Maitre, VSLA Technical Advisor, is holding a training session for a group of women in a camp in Leogane where CARE has just started implementi­ng the Village Loans and Savings Associations.

Integral to CARE's five-year, $100 million program to help Haitians rebuild their country are initiatives to help them develop their own economic opportunities after they've moved out the camps. In the fall, CARE launched the first Village Savings and Loan Association in Tiawa. VSLAs are self-managed savings groups. CARE teaches participants, the majority of whom are women, who save and loan money in small groups.

Members borrow money from the savings fund to pay household expenses and to start small businesses. The loans are repaid with interest which is then shared among the group members. Participants earn a greater rate of return on their savings than they would in a bank, while building bonds with their neighbors. VSLA loan repayment rates are near 100 percent.

Crucially, VSLAs elevate the status of women in their communities by demonstrating how the economic empowerment of women helps not just women, but everyone around them, including men and boys.

At one of the first VSLA meetings in Tiawa, the group sang a song composed by VSLA field manager Yves François Constant. "Where VSLA people stand, there's no space for misery," they sang. "Where VSLA people stand, women have autonomy."

CARE VSLA staff holding an information meeting for a group of civil society and women's organizations and two representatives of the city hall  in Carrefour where CARE has just started implementing the Village Loans and Savings Associations.

The Tiawa VSLA groups grew out of a gender-based violence counseling and support group CARE launched after the earthquake. After helping women survivors cope with the aftermath of gender-based violence, CARE is helping them take the next step by offering a VSLA program as a way to help the women weave their own economic safety nets. CARE's objective is to help women, and therefore their families, gain autonomy.

Although all of the money in a VSLA comes from the participants, CARE is facilitating VSLA growth in Tiawa and elsewhere in Haiti by fostering connections with responsible local businesses. Through CARE, VSLAs will soon team with Haiti-based Earthspark International to market green and clean energy products in Haitian communities. Conservation and better environmental stewardship are essential to Haiti's long-term recovery.

And to make sure their growing savings are stored safely, CARE will partner with a local mobile phone provider to develop a mobile wallet designed specifically for VSLAs. It will allow VSLA members to securely store and transfer money electronically, eliminating the need for group members to guard large stores of cash.

Though the VSLA model is new to the earthquake zone, it is not new to Haiti. Prior to the earthquake, CARE helped groups of women start VSLAs in Grand Anse, in the southwestern corner of the country. When survivors from other parts of Haiti poured into Grand Anse after the earthquake, the families with women who participated in VSLAs were better able to cope.

"Parents had to accommodate and feed their [returning] children and grandchildren," said Léonne Rochas, a regional VSLA chairwoman in Grand Anse. "The financial autonomy they gained from VSLAs helped them a lot."

CARE and the original Haitian VSLA groups in Grand Anse are now rapidly expanding.

"We don't advertise this product. It does its own marketing," Rochas says. "The women around us have seen how savings have gained us more respect in our families and communities. We are role models now."

Learn More >

Donate Now >

"I see her growing up and developing physically and I worry," she says. "When you become a mother at a young age, without any other asset available, you live the rest of your life in misery. No mother would like to see her child living in a similar situation."

Maude is attending a meeting at CARE's reproductive health center in the community of Santo, Léogâne. Officials estimate Haiti's devastating January 12, 2010 destroyed 80 to 90 percent of the buildings in Léogâne. This included not only homes but also the infrastructure of the normal life people rely on: markets, schools, government offices, and health clinics.

The earthquake turned Santo into a tent city of almost 10,000 people. CARE quickly moved in to help, distributing delivery kits and supplies for pregnant mothers and newborn babies, and offering counseling sessions to lower the risk of gender-based violence in this traumatized community.

More recently, CARE built the Santo health center, one of two it has constructed so far and one of 10 planned in all. CARE staff and nurses from a nearby hospital offer education on overall sexual health, contraceptive pills and injections, condoms and group informational sessions for men and women on the prevention of gender-based violence.

Maude often brings her daughter to the center because she's determined her daughter will avoid the hard life she has had. At 36, Maude is the mother of eight children.

"I have four children with a man I didn't love," Maude says. "He didn't want to use contraception and I didn't know how to protect myself." Maude eventually got married and had four more children with her husband. She and her husband attend CARE-sponsored sessions at the center because they've agreed they do not want to have more children.

Nurse Marie Kencia Dulorme is preparing a vaccine at one of the women's centre setting up by CARE in Leogane to provide reproductive health and referral services.

"My husband participated in numerous session organized by CARE's staff," Maude says. "He is now aware of the risk I run by multiplying pregnancies and has decided to protect me by using condoms."

Maude's daughter attends sessions on teaching her about birth control, prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, as well as classes on preventing gender-based violence. Maude says the classes have relaxed tensions between her and her daughter. Her daughter now understands her worries, she says. And she now has the right words for explaining to her daughter how and why to be cautious.

Maude expresses gratitude for the center, and she is not alone.

"Even when CARE staff is not here, women from Santo who were trained by CARE are inside sharing their knowledge with their peers," says Willio Sainvilus Latagnac, president of the Santo community association. "The community made this space their own and women have their own area where they can discuss their problems, find solutions together, and regain strength."

Learn More >

Donate Now >

Haiti – 2 year anniversary of earthquake

The parents of Léogâne's Mellier community have a long history of banding together to help one another. In the chaos that enveloped Haiti following the departure of the ruling Duvalier family in 1987, a group of parents in Mellier formed the Association of Parents of Mellier (ASPAM), a PTA-like association to make sure their kids' schooling continued without interruption. Soon after, they opened a pre-school and an elementary school so their youngest children didn't have to walk for hours to facilities outside Mellier if they wanted an education.

Modsol, Leogane, one of the community of return where CARE provide people with shelter and latrines. CARE has successfully distributed nearly 2,500 transitional-shelters to families with legal access to a building site, providing these individuals with robust structures that can last from 3- 5 years or until they find a more permanent housing solution.

Léogâne was one of the areas hardest hit by Haiti's devastating January 12, 2010 earthquake. Officials estimate the tremor destroyed 80 to 90 percent of Léogâne's buildings. Among the destroyed buildings there were ASPAM's elementary and pre-schools – along with the homes of most the school's children.

Even in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, when day-to-day survival was itself in doubt for many, parents began work to get their children back in school. For help, ASPAM turned to CARE, which has supported 78 schools since the earthquake, 20 in Léogâne alone.

"CARE was with us from the start," says Ginette Louis Jean, director of the ASPAM pre-school. "CARE provided us with school kits for teachers, students and educational materials for the class direction."

The parents soon re-opened the school in a temporary structure. CARE provided classroom supplies such as benches, blackboards and recreation kits. CARE built latrines, hand wash stations, water purification systems and held regular hygiene promotion sessions. The community pays an attendant to clean the latrines and ensures that the hand wash system is always filled with chlorinated water.

CARE's work with the school goes beyond standard educational curriculum. A CARE-led program in the school teaches children how to make attractive handbags from discarded items like bottle labels and cigarette packs. The kids earn money selling the items at a local market. Though the program includes boys and girls, it was designed in part to teach income-generating skills to at-risk girls; girls who might otherwise turn to prostitution.

Ecole les Abeilles de ASPAM (Bees of ASPAM School), Leogane. CARE Haiti’s Emergency Education Response has helped 20 schools directly affected by the earthquake in Léogâne and 58 indirectly affected schools (serving displaced children) in the areas of Gonaives, Gros Morne, and Jeremie.

CARE also provided members of the school's community with psycho-social counselling to help them cope with the intense trauma of the earthquake and its aftermath.
"The psychosocial sessions have helped us realize that we didn't only need to rebuild our houses, but also our minds," explains Ginette. After some understandably difficult months, the school's 250 students, 138 girls and 112 boys, are much happier now, she says.

Despite the extreme challenges created by the earthquake, ASPAM believes it's a stronger organization now than it was before the earthquake. With 80 percent of its students passing Haiti's standardized tests, ASPAM acquired land to build a secondary school so its graduates have a place to continue their education as they grow.

"We hope CARE can help us expand the school," says Lesly Jean-Baptiste, chairman of ASPAM. "But even if it can't, CARE helped us become much stronger. I'm sure we will find a way."

Learn More >

Donate Now >

June 6, 2011
Stories and photos by Mildrède Béliard, CARE Haiti

On the road to Carrefour, nothing has changed. At the entrance to the town, you see the market where fruit and vegetable waste is rotting and where traders stand with their feet in water.>

You may not notice it but the town has been facing a resurgence of the cholera epidemic, which reappeared here just under two weeks ago. This morning, a 12 year old boy died. He was one of two people carried on the backs of other residents of the site to a Cholera Treatment Center (CTC). He did not make it. He was living near the camp Bel Air 3. He had been ill since the previous afternoon, but his mother refused to admit that he had cholera until camp residents, trained and sensitized by CARE, realized he was suffering from the disease.

In the car taking us to Lycée Louis Joseph Janvier, which houses more than 1,200 people, the cell phone of Naomie Marcelin, one of CARE's health promotion activities supervisors, does not stop ringing. She is told that three cases have been identified in a site that had not previously been affected by cholera.

"Last week we distributed aquatabs in sites where we work already. We have also offered HTH solutions (concentrated chlorine) to disinfect the tents where there is a risk of cholera," says Naomi. "During the week we plan to deliver oral rehydration salts (ORS) to households."

Naomie is dismayed about the death of the young boy . To avoid a similar situation, she plans to propose the installation of oral rehydration posts (ORP) on sites in remote areas. "The boy died of dehydration. If people had been able to rehydrate him before taking him to the CTC, he would have survived," she explains.

At Lycée Louis Joseph Janvier, CARE teams are ready! They have posters and leaflets to explain key practices to prevent the spread of the cholera epidemic to representatives of a number of other local camps.

Around 20 people are present. Some are members of mothers' or youth clubs created by CARE WASH and Health teams to serve as peer educators.

Brice Sodlon is a voodoo priest who performs at Lycée Louis Joseph Janvier: "It is essential to learn, especially if you are a leader in your community. My family lives in this camp. My friends live in this camp. It is a duty for me to learn how to protect them from this disease," said Brice. "CARE can't stop. CARE does not have the right to stop. If CARE had run this training at the start of the crisis at Grand'Anse, I am sure all these voodoo priests would not have been killed by the people who were accusing them of causing the disease," he says.

Like other participants at the training, Brice knows the essential actions to take to protect himself against cholera: wash hands regularly, treat drinking or cooking water, cook food well, wash fruit and vegetables thoroughly with chlorinated water, treat human waste. Simple actions that save lives.

The cholera outbreak, which had decreased a few months ago, returned in force two weeks ago, affecting areas in which it had not previously been seen. CARE has started training and awareness sessions in camps, and also plans to distribute hygiene kits, water purification tablets, oral rehydration salts and concentrated chlorine solutions.

On Saturday, May 4, CARE donated sanitation equipment – wheelbarrows, shovels, rakes, trash cans – to Carrefour City Hall, which had organized activities to mark International Environment Day. These materials will be used to clean camps and public areas to avoid the worst.

Béatrice Jean-Louis and Magdala Saint-Ange, CARE staff members, holding a training session on cholera prevention at Lycée Louis Joseph Janvier, an IDP camp housing approximately 1,200 people. The cholera outbreak hits Carrefour where more than a thousand people are hospitalized.

Brice Sodlon, a voodoo priest in Carrefour, participating in the training session

A CARE mother's club member showing to the group how to use purification tablets to clean water at the training session.

• Read more about CARE's work in Haiti
• CARE scales up activities to respond to resurgence of cholera
• Donate now to help CARE respond to emergencies and fight poverty worldwide
  

CARE distributes hot meals twice a day in three evacuation centers in Yamada, northern Japan. Photo CARE Japan

By Futaba Kaiharazuka, (Assistant Program Director, Emergency Response, CARE Japan)

In one of the evacuation centers where CARE Japan is providing hot meals, there is a man with perfectly groomed hair who wears a certain jacket. The man is in his late 60s or early 70s and always joins in the aid work at the center, volunteering to help with the heavy lifting. He is one of those people who is always courteous and never stops smiling.

One member of the CARE team had the chance to chat with him a few days ago during the food distribution. His house, like many of the disaster victims, and all his household possessions were washed away. When the tsunami struck he was wearing the same jacket he now wears all the time. He explained that he wears the jacket not because he cannot change his clothes; the evacuation center has received many relief items including clothing and underwear, rather, he wears it because out of all his personal possessions, his jacket is the only item that survived the tsunami. “Everything I had was washed away, but I am a fighter”, he said with his usual smile whilst chatting to the kitchen staff. There is a mountain of relief goods such as clothes and new items that have been delivered, but despite this, he feels wearing his own jacket gives him the strength and courage to go on.

In the midst of such great post-disaster disorder, CARE sees countless examples of people helping each other through the chaos, despite the severity of their own circumstances. The old man’s story shows the strength and courage of these people who are determined to pick themselves up again.

Otsuki town hall(total 18staffs including the mayer have been died by the Tsunami. Photo: CARE/Yoshio Kondo

By Yuko Ota, (Assistant Program Officer, Emergency Response, CARE Japan)

The CARE Japan team visited a family of 11 members including a grandfather, his daughter and her husband (in their 50s), a grandchild, two great-granddaughters (eight and two years old) as well as five relatives who had lost their house. The lived in Kirikiri district in the city of Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture, one of the regions that was most destroyed by a massive tsunami on March 11. The sun was setting as the CARE team arrived so there was a chill in the air – but this area hasn't yet had the water or gas supply restored so the family could not use the heater in the living room. The temperature indoors was almost the same as outside.

We talked to the mother and she told us that electricity has still not been restored. ''A few days ago our neighbors let us share some of their power supply. For the first time in one month we saw the extent of the damage on TV'', she said. ''Until then we had no information at all, and since seeing the vast scale of destruction in Tohoku on TV, I cry everyday.'' She described witnessing the sheer might of the tsunami approaching: ''I thought tsunamis were noisy splashing waves. But the tsunami last month crept in silently and in an instant swept away houses and everything else in its path.''

When the earthquake struck, her grandmother was on her way to collect the great-grandchild from Kirikiri elementary school. ''She was swept away by the tsunami, was missing, and then nine days later her body was found'', described the mother through her tears. They finally found a crematorium and were told that usually bodies would be cremated within three days of being found, but there were so many bodies in that area that a regional mass funeral is scheduled to be held at a temple on 29th April.

The mother continued explaining how the first three nights after the tsunami the family of six slept in their car in case they had to suddenly escape. ''We are still so worried that there might be another earthquake in the night, so we slept fully clothed in case we have to flee.''

The only granddaughter is heavily pregnant. ''As she is in her final month of pregnancy, she should be growing bigger, but she hasn't really grown. I wish she could have bath in clean water, but there is still no water supply'', the mother described, looking very worried. The Japanese military set up simple bathing facilities in the Kirikiri elementary school nearby, but it is very exhausting for the granddaughter to go there.

The mother runs a barber shop next door, but as there is no water, gas or reliable electricity supply, she doesn't know when she will be able to reopen. ''We have no daily income. I am very unsure of our future. But we are the lucky ones. Many neighbors have lost family members, their houses and their possessions. The town mayor also died so we will have to join hands and work together and restore the town.''

It has now been one month since the disaster struck. The disaster victims, despite experiencing great hardship, are determined to encourage and help each other to grow stronger and step by step restore their lives. In order to support the strength of the local people, CARE assessed the situation in the disaster zone so we can provide the people with the aid they really need. We provide food to evacuees in three centers – in a situation like this, with cold temperatures and many older people in poor health condition, it is important to get nutritious food in order to stay healthy.

By Robert Laprade
CARE Emergency Team in Japan
April 6, 2011

Robert Laprade, CARE Emergency Team Leader in northern Japan. Photo: CARE

These are my last days in Japan. I am back in Tokyo now and will leave the country on Friday. It has been almost four weeks since the tsunami hit the coast of northern Japan; in many areas it was more than 30 meters high. There are still so many humanitarian needs. Even though infrastructure is getting repaired by the government, with roads being cleared, ports functioning again, and the lights coming back on, it is apparent even to those unfamiliar with emergency work that it will take five to ten years to rebuild the area--at least. Survivors living in evacuation centers or with host families face huge challenges. They will not be going back home anytime soon as many of their houses are now nothing more than a foundation. Others’ homes are partially damaged with windows and doors torn off, filled with a meter of a mixture of mud and miscellaneous, smashed rubbish. The initial shock of the disaster has receded – now it is dawning on many people just how bad their situation really is. They realize that they will not be able to live in their homes soon, if ever, again. It’s a huge challenge for the government. In the first weeks, the focus has rightly been on searching for survivors and remains of victims, putting a roof over the affected people as quickly as possible, and getting basic infrastructure back up and running. Now the government needs to determine how to house people for a longer period before permanent housing can be built. In the fishing towns of Yamada and Otsuchi and many others, most buildings are destroyed—only the wood, metal siding, beams, and contents remain, strewn across the hideous landscape kilometers from where they once stood as offices, houses, and schools. Much of the coastline where the tsunami hit is mountainous. The only flat area is the land lining the coves and inlets wiped almost clean in the disaster. There is not much space to build temporary houses for all evacuees.

When I visited the evacuation centers I saw that many survivors had nothing to do. Many just sat there traumatized. Others conversed with friends and relatives. Being in close quarters—sleeping, eating, and talking to the same group of people in very cramped space—can be a stressful experience after some time. Many people are still clearly grieving as it is only now becoming clear that they will probably never see their missing loved ones again. In some of the centers, we have been looking at helping with recreational and cultural activities that can help reduce some of the stress and monotony, especially for elderly people who may have extra challenges of mobility. These need to be things that are culturally and socially familiar to them, and that they identify as giving comfort or providing a bit of fun.

The evacuation centers in Yamada where CARE provides hot meals two times a day are located in a school compound. But the school year starts in the next few weeks. That’s another challenge. We have already been told that we need to remove our kitchen and storehouse as they were located in the classrooms. Evacuation center residents are sleeping in the gym and will not be forced to leave. My Japanese CARE colleagues now have to identify new places to store food and supplies and a place to cook. But that’s the nature of humanitarian operations. It is our duty to act in the best interest of those affected. In this case, we want the kids to go back to school, the people who don’t have a home to have a place to live, and to ensure that we can still serve nutritious food for the residents. We need to be flexible in a dynamic environment, finding ways to bring help to survivors and meet the many different needs they have.

The past weeks in Japan have shown me how fragile life is. Whether we live in developed or developing countries, whether in cities or villages, we can never be too secure. I also think we should respond to the humanitarian needs of survivors, no matter in which region of the world they live, even if they happen to come from a “rich” country. The tsunami in Japan also really underlines the importance of disaster risk reduction and early warning systems. Had those systems not been in place, clearly casualties would have been much higher. It was also great to see how people helped each other out in their time of greatest need. The Japanese people have all pulled together, everyone doing their own part to in some way show their support for the victims and survivors. There were numerous donations and offers to host homeless survivors. Inhabitants of Tokyo try to save energy whenever they can. The hotel where I am staying in Tokyo turns out the lights in the lobby when breakfast is over. All the glitter and glamour that you visualize when you think of Japan is toned down. Excessive celebrations during this important time of traditional cherry blossom festivals are even frowned upon. The CARE team in Tokyo is still working long hours, until 10 p.m. every day. Everyone seems content making sacrifices, knowing that in some small way they are paying their respects to the inhabitants of the ravaged Northeast coast and making a difference in the lives of survivors.

By Robert Laprade
April 1, 2011

Otsuchi--duplex houses occupied by two families or individuals. This is an area where people did not have much to begin with, where younger ones have moved to the cities to find better paid work and where only the old ones are left. Photo: CARE/Robert Laprade

Today we distributed hot meals to evacuees in Yamada. Since the tsunami hit northern Japan, many survivors have not received balanced, hot meals on a regular basis. They are mostly surviving on just rice and some occasional fruit. In a situation like this, with cold temperatures and many older people in poor health condition, it is important to get nutritious food in order to stay healthy. Trained cooks and cafeteria staff helped us to prepare the food to ensure cleanliness. We are providing two meals a day in three locations of one big school compound here in Yamada. The evacuees were really happy and thankful. In this rather positive mood we set off to do some further assessment in Otsuchi, a fishing town south of Yamada. When we arrived there, my good mood was suddenly replaced by pure shock. Described by some newspapers as one of the worst hit towns, Otsuchi was in dreadful condition. Here again we could see the destructive force of a tsunami: debris everywhere for kilometers as far as the eye could see—houses, cars, parts of large concrete bridges, large electrical turbines, even a few fire engines strewn across the muddy landscape as if a giant child had emptied his set of Legos and children's toys into a muddy, dirty sandbox. In the areas where the waves had reached their maximum incursion inland, some houses were but left with one to two meters of grey, ugly mud that now covers everything. Within that mud, everything imaginable is mixed. Driving through the area of Otsuchi where some of these houses survived, we saw elderly people digging in the mud, trying to find even just a few belongings that can remind them of the world they once knew.

We talked to one woman, who was picking around the smelly mud. She was around 70 years old. The tsunami took her husband away. When we approached her, she had just dug a few dishes out and squatted around a plastic bowl where she cleaned them in water. It was cold outside but she wanted to rescue her few little things; it was all that she had left. She told us that even though a few volunteers came to help, she was really doing the cleaning all by herself. Her house was still standing, but everything inside was destroyed. It was really heart-wrenching. The tears from my CARE Japanese colleagues ran down their cheeks for five minutes; I think it was a blessing that I required a translation and could not understand everything she said. We were so far away from the glittery, high-tech world of Tokyo that we see from the movies and TV about Japan. People here did not possess much to begin with, most lived in small duplex houses, provided by the government and which looked like trailers. This was a fishing area. Those young, agile, and educated enough have long gone to the cities to find better paid work. Only the old ones were left.

We met another woman together with her husband. Both were also digging through the mud, looking for a few valuables. She told me she was the youngest around here – and she was already 60 years of age. She pointed to some of the houses, saying that almost all of the inhabitants are 80 years and older. Most of them are just physically not able to clean the mud from their houses. They need help. They were questioning why the municipality did not help them. When we drove about a kilometer over a hilly outcropping and gazed out over a small bay we realized why nobody would help for a very, very long time. The entire commercial and downtown residential area of Otsuchi was gone. Washed away. The mayor died—so did anybody else who remained behind or couldn't run fast enough when the warning sirens went off. From the hill, it looked like a bomb hit this town. Probably only one in twenty buildings were even recognizable as buildings—just foundations or a post or two of metal, maybe a half wall here and there. When entering this burned out ghost town of mangled metal, concrete, and mud, I noticed an overhead highway sign that remained standing. It indicated that Sendai is 230 kilometers away--230 kilometers to the center of tsunami impact. How in the world could it look worse than here?

After this awful excursion into hell, we went back to Yamada. I am glad that we could provide the people here nutritious food. And we'll do more of it elsewhere. Afterall, it's people like the women we met who are the residents of the evacuation centers. There is so much work to do.

By Futaba Kaiharazuka, (Assistant Program Director, Emergency Response, CARE Japan)

800 people have sought shelter in a high school in Yamada. In the back is the "office" of the shelter where staff sort items and distribute medical supplies. Photo: CARE/Robert Laprade

The CARE Japan team returned for the second time to the disaster zone in the northeast of Japan and have now been here for a week.Whilst setting up CARE Japan's aid program, we have had days where we have made great progress, but also some days of setbacks and few advances- this is the reality of an emergency relief site.

Yamada town in Iwate Prefecture, the chosen town for CARE Japan's new relief programme, is one of the towns to have been very badly damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. I had never visited Iwate Prefecture until now, and didn't know much of the area, but the first time I visited Yamada and saw the sheer devastation, I was lost for words and my heart stopped. Many of the houses had been washed away and destroyed by the tsunami. A town of rubble, as far as the eye can see, with strangely shaped fragments in every nook and cranny, cars in outrageous places and a burnt odour looming over the houses that weren't washed away but burned down. Although I can't believe I am looking at a Japanese landscape, I was reminded that this is the present undeniable reality.

I looked out beyond the tsunami-scarred coastline, and saw the contrast of the tranquil and beautiful ocean. When we first came to conduct a survey, the beauty of the ocean caught my eye. I am sure the people of Yamada must have been proud of the ocean. It is easy to imagine the sea rich in marine life, such as oysters and seaweed. Everyone we have met who lived by the sea has had their house or people they loved, and their hometown's beautiful view engulfed by the tsunami in an instant. I keep asking myself 'what on earth can I do to help?'

However, everyone here is determined to overcome the devastation; the town hall officials working 46hours straight; the mothers who despite having damaged houses themselves, go to the evacuation centres everyday to help out in the soup kitchen; the high school students moving boxes as their small contribution, the people who wrote 'Smile!' in big colourful letters to encourage the children; everyone is playing their part towards the restoration. We were very encouraged by these people as we made our preparations to begin CARE Japan's relief cooperation.

The people of this town are determined to survive. Even though they face such great insecurity as to how they will live from now on, and questioning what will happen next, they all support and care for each other living as evacuees. The CARE Japan staff, our international colleagues who came to assist us and I aim to support the admirable people of Yamada to help restore their once beautiful town and their individual livelihoods.

After we had an early morning planning session over Japanese breakfast, we drove to the coast of Iwate prefecture. We came to a small city called Miyako, and while we were driving around the corner of what seemed like a normal street, all of sudden we arrived in hell. Before us lay total destruction. Cars were upside down, metal parts were scattered everywhere. The bizarre thing was that we looked on one side of the road and there was a supermarket, perfectly standing without a scratch. On the other side of the road, it was total destruction. But it got worse. We drove into Yamada town and there almost the entire downtown area was wiped out. Yamada is a fishing town, and some people farmed oysters and seaweed.Amongst the rubble and mud, fishing gear, nets and floats were strung everywhere. What was once the professional equipment of fishermen now lay like garland on a Christmas tree, but the ‘trees’ were mangled pieces of houses. Heaps of furniture and personal belongings and just about anything one could imagine stuck out of the mass of muck. The area of destruction was three to four square kilometres; we could not see the end of it. I was amazed how quickly the Japanese government has cleared the main roads. We drove through Yamada on perfectly clean, paved roads, but rubble and debris were piled up to ten metres on both sides.

While working our way through the maze of roads, I noticed through gaps in the debris that all houses built higher than 20 metres above sea level stood untouched by the wave. The city hall stood on a small hill and it survived without a scratch. However, right in front a field of cars, house parts, and machinery were burnt almost beyond recognition – black, burnt heaps of debris. I remember the pictures on television when the tsunami came in with rafts of burning rubbish; this now was how it looked after the water receded. Much of it reminded me of the post-apocalyptic world described in the novel The Road.

We entered the city hall looking for officials to whom we could explain our work and get permission to start looking for a base for operations. On the ground floor of the city hall, we sighted a billboard where people left notes for their lost loved ones in case they miraculously showed up looking for them. In another room, the search teams had placed wet and ragged photo albums they had found in the rubble. For some people, these memories are all they have left. We found the mayor on the second floor; he was a very friendly man who told us with a big hospitable smile that he lost his home. However, this was not the first time he experienced a large tsunami. In the 1960s, an earthquake in Chile triggered a series of waves which also smashed the coast of Yamada. He told us that Yamada has 21,000 inhabitants and that around 7,000 people are displaced living in about 30 shelters in schools, temples, and community centres. Around 1,500 families still live in their houses but cannot get out due to lack of gasoline or roads blocked by trash left by the tsunami. Currently there is no functioning grocery store anywhere to be found in Yamada itself so walking for food is not an option.

After meeting the mayor we went to an elementary school. Around 100 people were sheltered there. They told us that in the evenings inhabitants of the surrounding villages come by and the evacuees share their meals with them because they have no means to go and buy food. In one of the rooms used clothing lay on the floor and was being sorted. These were certainly donations, waiting to be distributed. However, we also heard that the food arriving at the shelter is not enough and often a meal of just rice. We talked to a group of women, all of them sitting on their mattresses. One woman told me that she and her family survived the tsunami but her home is completely gone. All her neighbours are dead. She was around 60 years old and the youngest of the group. She said they are all fishermen here but now have lost their boats, their nets and their income. She also did not know whether her insurance will cover her losses, since all her papers were washed away. “Our lives have fallen apart”.

When we drove to another evacuation centre, it started snowing again. Giant white snow flakes fell down. It is still freezing here. In this high school, 800 people have sought shelter. In the gym, mattress lay next to mattress. This place was really crowded. Although orderly, it did not look very comfortable. There was a stage which was now the office of the centre. We passed by the kitchen where three shifts of evacuees cooked whatever was delivered by the local government from donations from around Japan. Army trucks arrived and helped in delivering relief items; we were told the troops also regularly cooked rice for the evacuees.

Tomorrow we plan to go further north but tonight I will focus on putting together a strategic plan for a CARE emergency response while my colleagues Alain and Futaba will begin to write an operational plan to scale up our assistance. We need to locate key relief items and how to get them to the people who need them the most. We are looking at beginning a program to ensure that the nutritional value of meals prepared for evacuees is improved through the introduction of vegetables and fish or meat. Authorities have been overwhelmed in the search for survivors, getting roads cleared, and looking for missing people and just haven’t had the time. Japanese people are used to having good hot food for every meal just as we are at home, so it’s quite a hardship when they’ve lost loved ones, are suffering through incredible trauma, and can’t even get a decent meal. Many evacuees are elderly or children and good nutrition is especially important to keeping up their health in crowded, cold conditions.

By Robert Laprade
CARE Emergency Team in Japan
March 23, 2011

“Today we have arrived in Northern Japan. We flew from Tokyo, Japan’s capital city, to Aomori and then drove down to the city of Morioka in the Iwate prefecture. It is freezing here, like a blizzard. There is one meter of snow and it is really, really cold. My Canadian colleague Alain said to me:” I feel like we are in Canada!” We have heard that there are Japanese who have lost their homes but who have not sought shelter in the collective centres. I don’t want to imagine how it must be for those who live in their destroyed houses, without windows, without any electricity, without heating. At the moment, the elements are clearly not in favour for Japan.

Morioka looks like a normal modern city in a rich developed country. It is unbelievable that just a few kilometres from here such massive destruction from the earthquake and the tsunami took place almost two weeks ago. After we have arrived we went to the Disaster Prevention Centre. People were buzzing around, doing all kinds of coordination, managing the emergency response. It looked like a command centre, and we also saw many Japanese military walking through the halls. Search and rescue teams were there; one person was wearing a T-Shirt that read “Christchurch New Zealand”. He must have come straight from New Zealand, where another earthquake struck the country just a few weeks ago.

At the Disaster Prevention Centre we met with local authorities and got a voucher for fuel. Getting fuel is still an enormous challenge. On the way, we passed by a line at the gas station that stretched for many kilometres. It went over a bridge and up a hill and it was so long, we could not even see the end of it. Since CARE is involved in the emergency response, we were entitled to receive one tank of fuel and whenever we need more, we have to go back to the centre, which is open for 24 hours every day. I sincerely hope that the fuel will last long enough to bring us to the coast and back tomorrow!

After receiving our fuel, we went to the Volunteer Coordination Centre and talked to the staff for quite a while. It was our aim to get a sense of the challenges for the emergency response and to find out how CARE can fill the gaps. In coordinating with other organizations and the local authorities we will ensure not to duplicate any efforts and only assist in those areas where the Japanese emergency response is stretched and simply needs our help. We learned that many areas are indeed now accessible. But we also learned that some local authorities are wiped out, they basically don’t exist any longer. And even though Japan has great emergency response measures in place a disaster like this would overwhelm any government. This is a very tough situation.

In the same building where the volunteer centre is located a couple of hundred survivors of the disaster have found shelters. I just peeked into the room but saw people sleeping on thin mattresses placed on the floor. In the lobby, some kids were playing soccer. We heard people in some centres may not be receiving adequate hot meals, or nutritious meals. Tomorrow, we will visit some more of these collective centres in Yamada and Otsuchi, two affected cities along the coast. There we will find out what people need and how CARE can help the Japanese emergency effort to ensure that no survivor is left out.”

Story and photo by Marie-Eve Bertrand, CARE Haiti
November 11, 2010

Yveline walks up to me with a nice smile, but I can tell she is reserved. As we walk into her parent's house, I notice that all of her family's belongings are stored on the table, on the higher cupboards or shelters.

"When Tomas approached, CARE staff brought a speakerphone to the community and told us to get prepared. We stored our things and, therefore, did not lose too much," Yveline says. "The rain and water filled the streets and our house." She shows me the mark on the wall, indicating the water level: three feet high.

Yveline is one of the 333 children that CARE sends to school here in Gonaïves. She has been in the project for six years and is really thankful for the help her family gets from CARE. She is smart and caring.

"My dream is to be a doctor because I want to help my community and other people who are disadvantaged. I know it is a lot of work, but thanks to CARE's generous donors, I have been able to concentrate on my studies," Yveline tells me. "My family supports me, and I know that one day I will do good work."

I asked her about cholera and the situation in Gonaïves. She tells me about what they have learned so far through CARE's prevention training."Cholera is an illness that is treatable and preventable. People need to wash their hands, disinfect their house if someone is sick and give them rehydration salts. And we need to make sure that we should not abandon those who are sick. They need help!"

She adds, "Cholera should not kill so many people. The problem is that we have little sanitation infrastructure, and now with Tomas' flooding it is even worse. We have very poor land management. We cut too many trees with no plans, and did not pay attention to our natural resources. Now, it is our infrastructure that is missing. We do not have enough gutters, and we do not care enough for our environment." "

When looking at her, you see that she does care for her neighbors. She is volunteering with CARE – attending meetings and training. She wants to make a difference in her world.

We walked outside of her parent's house, and jumped on stones to avoid stepping in the mud that covers their yard. The streets are filled with waste and mud. But, Yveline is off, helping spread information on how to prevent cholera.

Once she's gone, I can't help wonder how many out young Yvelines did not have the chance to go to school, live their dreams and build a better life for themselves and their communities.

• Read more blogs from Haiti
• Find out more about CARE's emergency response work in Haiti
• Donate to help CARE's emergency relief and poverty-fighting work in Haiti and 71 other countries around the world

Story and photo by Marie-Eve Bertrand, CARE Haiti
November 11, 2010

The sun is shining, dogs are barking and the wind is blowing. This could be a normal day in Gonaïves. But it's not. Streets are empty, kids are not in school and mothers are concerned.

As I was with a community volunteers team, we were training women on how to purify the water they sell with bleach that CARE is providing them. A woman showed up. Wearing a mask, she was scared to approach me, scared to touch anyone.

Our team then visited an area called Descoteaux. This part of Gonaïves was flooded by Hurricane Tomas a few days ago. Now mud and garbage are covering streets. We stopped at Rosette Noël's house situated in a zone where CARE's volunteers and staff have distributed aid. A little girl is looking at us. Suddenly, another one joins her, then a grandma, a dad, two teenagers and a mom. Rosette is the mother of many kids she tells me. Her family includes her sister, her brother, and many siblings. I tried to get an exact figure. I don't think she knew.

Rosette tells me that when Tomas struck, they did not have enough time to gather their belongings. I could tell this was true by looking at the clothes and miscelleous household items drying on the brick wall between the houses.

"There was mud everywhere," she says. "We sought refuge with our neighbors. In this neighbourhood, we take care of one another. But what concerns me now is that my niece was sick yesterday. And now it is my sister. They are resting in bed, and we give them rehydration salts and clean them. We do what we hear on the radio messages." CARE's public information campaign via radio instructing Haitians on how best avoid and prevent cholera has reached at least 200,000 people to date. I am glad Rosette has hear them.

When I asked her why she was not taking them to the hospital, she turns her head. She is concerned about the fact that the hospitals are already over capacity and that the staff does have the ability to take care of her loved ones.

"We know that some people were left on the streets because they were sick. I don't want that to happen to my family. We can take care of them. I am afraid that they will get more sick in the hospital," Rosette explains. "Family is everything."

Her youngest looks at me. She is gorgeous and smiling. Her eyes are full of life and joy. I just wish I could do something to help them. But they know what to do.

"CARE helped us a lot. They came here to tell us how to protect ourselves before Tomas, and then after [explaines how to help]avoid being sick. We received soap bars and aquatabs," Rosette says.

As I leave the house, they wave goodbye to me. The grandma tells me to take good care and to stay healthy. These people are generous, and I am so proud I got to meet them.

• Read more blogs from Haiti
• Find out more about CARE's emergency response work in Haiti
• Donate to help CARE's emergency relief and poverty-fighting work in Haiti and 71 other countries around the world

by Dr. Franck Geneus, CARE health manager in Haiti
November 10, 2010

The situation here in Artibonite is all but reassuring. You can feel the angriness rising slowly but surely. In Raboto, it was reported that the dead were being abandoned in the streets. Hospitals are already at capacity with patients infected with diarrhea. Others who are infected are being discharged or discouraged not to go to the hospital in the first place. The police have assigned a car that transports infected people both dead and alive. This car is not being disinfected.

Protests in the streets were reported by the press. The fear of illness is everywhere. The sick are not adequately being taken care of and are seen as pests. Babies have been abandoned. Those that have children in schools are thinking of keeping them at home.

The number of new cholera cases have increased to 15 per day up from 3-5 cases before the hurricane struck. In the Hospital of Marmelade, over 200 cases have been reported since the beginning of the epidemic on October 20. Dead bodies are not being properly disposed of. Support staff are reluctant to come into contact with them because they don't have appropriate protective outfits.

CARE is supporting communities where we have our presence by providing early detection and management of cases; medically assisting rehydration; and conducting proper evacuation of cases. CARE's main focus is in helping facilities use proper hygiene and sanitation. CARE was approached by the Ministry of Education, for example, to clean a school which was flooded near a cemetery where bodies were wrongly disposed of. The cases are increasing and it wouldn't be a surprise if we see a boom in the epidemic in the coming days.

• Read more blogs from Haiti
• Find out more about our emergency response work in Haiti
• Donate to help CARE's emergency relief and poverty-fighting work in Haiti and 71 other countries around the world

by Marie-Eve Bertrand, CARE Haiti Emergency Team

09:00, Nov. 6, 2010

Saturday was a busy day for CARE's team. I spent the day with CARE teams on their field visit to Léogâne. When we arrived in the downtown area, I was shocked by the level and the strength of water in the streets. The Rouyonne River had overflowed. Once again. And it has washed away a substantial part of downtown.

People are walking in the knee-deep water filled with garbage, human waste, bugs, and what else...

Women and men were cleaning their houses or shelters, removing the mud and trying to make it look clean. Truth is, I am concerned that a broomstick is not enough to sanitize a place that was filled with filthy water.

Yet, amazingly, not everyone we met was in despair. Indy, a young women living with her mom, was cleaning their little brick house. Her mom was telling me it was enough, it had to stop. She was cleaning her clothes as Indy was removing the muddy water from the one room they use as a kitchen, living room, dining room and bed room. Indy was smiling to me, and I asked her if she was upset. She said, "No ... What would it change?"

(Indy cleaning her house in Léogâne after Hurricane Tomas flooded the town. Photo: Marie-Eve Bertrand/CARE)

I stopped to visit the family living in CARE's first temporary shelter. I remember meeting her this summer, as she was just about to move in. It would have been great to meet her in a better situation. She lost everything but her family in January. This time, their belongings were pilled up, the mattress was wet, the walls were dirty, and her ti-moun (child) was hungry.

She looked at the sky and said: "This is an act of God, what else can I say? But it's enough. I want fresh food for my kids, I don't want them to be sick. There are very few latrines here. People do their things in bags and throw them in the canal. It was always like that. Now the canal is overflowing."

(Read more about CARE's work helping survivors have a sturdy roof over their heads and a strong foundation to rebuild their lives. Photo: Marie-Eve Bertrand/CARE)

Yes, it is. And I saw those bags floating around. Filled with human waste. While kids were playing around ...

Cholera, of course, is on the mind of everyone, including the CARE staff. Sunday, our CARE team distributed help to 9500 beneficiaries in Léôgane. We gave them aquatabs, Hygiene kits or BP5 (high energy biscuits) based on their needs. The response is done in partnerships with the other NGO's on the ground.

In Bino Lester, a grandma walked up to me. Her crops had flooded. She was frustrated. Enough, she said. This has to stop. Even the strong people of Haiti have their limits.

Tomorrow, I head to Gonaïves, where a CARE team will continue distributions and raise awareness of health risks such as cholera. The flooding was quite serious there. I might see another smile like Indy's. But given the triple-dose of disaster in Haiti these days, it would not surprise me if I did not.

• Read more blogs from Haiti
• Find out more about CARE's emergency response work in Haiti
• Donate to help CARE's emergency relief and poverty-fighting work in Haiti and 71 other countries around the world

by Marie-Eve Bertrand, CARE Haiti Emergency Team

06:00, Nov. 5, 2010

I woke up to dark grey clouds. There is no sun in Port-au-Prince today. It was pretty quiet first thing this morning as the storm was 'stopped' by the mountains, but then suddenly, it was as if someone opened the tap. It is loud now... very loud! The rain sounds as if you're standing next to a waterfall. For a moment I thought we would be okay. Now I am really concerned about our staff and friends living in camps or shelters. You don't want to be outside at this time...

Yesterday the staff and people in our neighbourhood were getting ready for the storm - packing up food, water supplies. I was at the market yesterday and you could tell that people were nervous. Everyone was filling up their baskets, talking loud, moving fast ...

Usually the market it's pretty relaxed, but yesterday everything changed. People were in the streets, the traffic was heavier much sooner as everyone tried to get home to their families, and the businesses closed much earlier.

People were asking: "Why this? Why us? Why again?"

The rain is getting harder. The wind hasn't picked up yet, but if this gets worse, I can only imagine how bad it will be for the people in the camps.

• Read more blogs from Haiti
• Find out more about CARE's emergency response work in Haiti
• Donate to help CARE's emergency relief and poverty-fighting work in Haiti and 71 other countries around the world

Sharing the stories of Haitians struggling in the aftermath of January's earthquake is a crucial part of CARE's work to help heal and rebuild the nation. The woman who leads the effort to bring that information to the world could easily write volumes about her own life.

By Sabine Wilke

March 2010

Standing in the middle of the dusty parking lot surrounded by huge trucks, you find yourself right in hustle and bustle of the logistics center supporting CARE's emergency response. Planes are roaring over the site every couple of minutes – Port-au-Prince's airport is only a couple of blocks away from the warehouse. And there is another particularity to this location: "We're right in the middle of the red zone," says Geoffroy Larde from the CARE logistics team. The warehouse borders on Cité Soleil, the infamous slum that has been neglected for years and has experienced severe damage from the January 12 earthquake.

High in the hills above Léogâne, near the epicenter of the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, the signs of both devastation and courage are everywhere.

by Rick Perera, CARE Media Officer in Haiti

Friday, February 26, 2010

The studio at Radio Francisque FM is a tiny affair, but buzzes with activity. DJ Bernard Felusma works the audio board, headset glued to his ears as he spins his two-hour morning show, Recréation 10-12. The sounds are upbeat: Creole hits, hip-hop, and easily recognized international stars.

Womens Radio Network, www.womensradionetwork.com, has launched a fundraiser for CARE for Haiti.

It involves an online art auction and ongoing sales of women's art through an online art booth located at: http://www.fine-art-on-demand.com/Partners/nonprofits/womensradio.htm

Womens Radio Network does not take any fees for this great program. The other sponsors and artists have donated siginificant amounts of time, energy and hard money to make this new idea work. Buy some great art by great women artists, and 65-100 percent of your purchase goes to helping survivors of Haiti's January 12 earthquake through CARE for Haiti.

Learn more about CARE for Haiti at www.careforhaiti.org.

by Rick Perera, CARE Media Officer in Haiti

Monday, March 17, 2010

I love watching the humming machine of the Haiti relief effort in action. CARE has more than doubled our local staff since the January 12 earthquake, and the well-oiled supply chain is cranking along. Our huge new warehouse buzzes with workers loading and unloading, trucks rolling in and out. It's a sight to see.

by Sabine Wilke, CARE Media Officer in Haiti

Monday, March 8, 2010

Her first life was that of a teacher at a nurse's training school in Port-au-Prince, teaching skills to make sure that women have a healthy delivery. Today, Carline Morney spends her days in and around the earthquake-stricken capital of Haiti, helping expecting and young mothers to cope with the difficult situation. She is one of more than 70 new CARE staff members who have been hired in addition to the existing team to ensure a timely and efficient emergency response.

by Rick Perera, CARE Media Officer in Haiti

Monday, March 1, 2010

We're watching from Haiti with shock and sadness as the news comes from Chile: another merciless earthquake, more powerful than ever. So soon after the devastation here in and around Port-au-Prince. (Was that only a few weeks ago? It feels like an eternity.)

by Anne Larass, CARE in Haiti's Information Management Officer

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

"Ne bloquez pas, ne bloquez pas!" a CARE distribution coordinator calls out to the giggling crowd of women and girls who have been lining up since 5:30 a.m. to receive their rice.

With no easy way to carry the 50 kg bags, women and girls are dropping them every few steps, laughing and shaking their heads at the comedy of the situation.

By Melanie Brooks, CARE International Media Officer in Haiti

Friday, February 12, 2010

While professional rescue teams used heavy equipment to pull people from the rubble, Jacques Wylens' father, Jacques Wilkens, used a sledgehammer and his bare hands in a desperate effort to free his son from the coffin of what was once their home. Next to where two-year-old Jacques lie trapped and crying under the rubble were his dead grandparents.

Excerpted from a note to CARE staff
by Jonathan Mitchell, CARE International's Emergency Response Director

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Dear Colleagues,

A week ago, I returned from a joint visit to Haiti together with CARE USA regional director, Peter Buijs. Peter and I visited Haiti to understand the situation first-hand and offer support and guidance to CARE's response to the extensive humanitarian suffering caused by the January 12 earthquake. Peter stayed-on in Haiti for an additional week while country director Sophie Perez was traveling.

Story by Rick Perera, CARE Media Officer in Haiti

Saturday, February 6, 2010

In earthquake-ravaged Haiti, where broken bones and open wounds far outnumber doctors, people have grown accustomed to long waits for medical attention. But many who turn up at Saurel Saintie's mud-brick home have waited longer than most. These patients have traveled five hours or more along a rutted, dirt road -- aboard battered old buses, in backs of trucks or perched by threes and fours on motorbikes – to escape the ruined capital, Port-au-Prince. Many have gone weeks without having their injuries attended to.

Story by Rick Perera, CARE Media Officer in Haiti

Friday, February 5, 2010

Woose Gammanuel Ulysse wipes his runny nose, as he hides behind his mother's skirts. The five-year-old has been wheezing and coughing since the terrible events of January 12, when his world collapsed around him. The boy was trapped for an hour an a half under the rubble of his uncle's house in Port-au-Prince, says mother Tulia.

by Elizabeth Babister, CARE Senior Shelter Advisor

Friday, February 5, 2010

In the mornings, as the little tent circle of staff in the garden of CARE's office wakes up our most precious items here the small padlocks for locking the tents. A token gesture towards security since anyone could cut through the fabric, but with the garden busy with CARE staff this would be noticed immediately. We are relieved from the inconvenience of staying with our possessions while I work. Many of the camps in the city are congested with people, strangers to each other situated in the same place by necessity because open land is so scarce. There are no locks or fences between families. CARE will be supporting community leaders to organise committees in order to empower families to work for their recovery as community.

by Rick Perera, CARE's Emergency Media Officer in Haiti

Friday, February 5, 2010

This will be my last blog entry from Haiti – but certainly not the last about Haiti, a country that has worked its way into my heart. I leave tomorrow on a special charter flight for aid workers.

by Rick Perera, CARE Emergency Media Officer in Haiti

February 1, 2010

We're all starting to feel a little safer, and more relaxed – though that's a relative term, of course. We've noticed that there have not been aftershocks in a week or so. The mass distribution of rice that got underway yesterday has gone smoothly so far – a huge relief since many survivors have had nothing to eat since the quake. Of course it will take a long time to reach everyone in need, but the system is working well so far.

by Rick Perera, CARE Emergency Media Officer in Haiti

Saturday, January 30, 2010

I've just returned from one of the most heartbreaking visits of my two weeks here: to meet the family of Dr. Franck Geneus, CARE's gentle, dedicated health program director. Their homes destroyed, his extended family of 30 is packed into Franck's brother's tiny house and yard -- from the littlest niece, five-month-old Joelle, to grandmother Inosie, who says she's 94.

by Abby Maxman, country director, CARE Ethiopia and former country director for CARE International in Haiti

Taken from a longer piece written by Abby to her CARE colleagues on January 14, 2010

As we all reel with grief and concern in the aftermath of the horrific and massive earthquake that struck near Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince on January 12, I am drawn back to my own personal and professional relationship with the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. As a humanitarian and development professional for more than 20 years, I try to unpack its troubled history, fast forwarding to this week's events, and rewinding again to my own experience as country director of CARE International in Haiti from 2004-2006.

Friday, January 22, 2010

One of our staff members in Haiti reports on the bleak living conditions for people displaced by the earthquake:

Shelter is makeshift. A subject of common prayer: "We hope that rain does not fall!" The big majority of the shelters set up so far assure essentially a symbolic role of limitation of territory guaranteeing a minimum of security and of intimacy. That means that the existing shelters do not protect against anything at all, if that would be wind, sun, cold, heat and even less against rain.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

You might expect to see Wilner Ulysse helping a little old lady cross the street. That's the classic image of a dutiful Scout. But Wilner, age 23, has a much more important good deed for today.

by Loetitia Raymond

Thursday, January 21, 2010

At the fragile moment in time when a life enters the world, when a child leaves the warm, protective cocoon of her mother's womb, one gesture can change everything. It can transform what could have been a happy occasion into the saddest of all.

by Steve Hollingworth, CARE USA COO and EVP, Global Operations

Wednesday, January 21, 2010

I received an e-mail today that I deeply appreciated. It also made me proud to be a part of CARE!!

by Patrick Solomon, CARE USA SVP, Global Support Services

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Yesterday, the CARE staff went to the Place Saint Pierre in Pétion-ville extremely close to the CARE office to do pre-work for today's distribution of hygiene kits. The team did an assessment and registration process to identify pregnant and elderly women to make sure they were recipients of the distribution. Today, the team ensured that these women were given priority in the distribution process.

by Patrick Solomon, CARE USA SVP, Global Support Services

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

On Wednesday, January 20, 2009, CNN's Wolf Blitzer interviewed Steve Hollingworth, CARE USA's chief operating officer and Executive vice president of global operations. The interview was aired on CNN's The Situation Room. Check back for video.

Here is the transcript:

by CARE staff in Haiti

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

A 6.1-magnitude aftershock rocked Haiti around 6:00 a.m. local time this morning, only eight days after the earthquake destroyed the capital city, leaving tens of thousands dead and injured and many more homeless.

CARE's emergency response team send the following by text messages (SMS) and e-mail:

by Rick Perera, emergency media officer in Haiti

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

This entry is a small collection of photos of senior staff inspecting damage in the hard-hit Delmas section of Port-au-Prince.

by Loetitia Raymond, emergency media officer in Haiti

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Depuis une semaine des centaines de camps de fortunes ont tristement fleuri le parterre des trottoirs de Port-au-Prince et de ses environs. Sans logement et sans aucune source de revenu pour la plupart, les sinistrés ont besoin de l’aide internationale pour survivre. Depuis mon arrivée dans les bureaux de CARE Haïti, transformé en camp de fortune pour certains des employés qui ont perdu leur maison, je découvre une équipe admirablement engagée et mobilisée, alors que bon nombre d’entre eux ont perdu leur habitation, parfois des membres de leur famille. De 7h du matin à 22h pour certains, 7j sur 7, chacun tente de faire face à l’envergure des besoins pour mettre en place l’aide à la population.

by Patrick Solomon, CARE USA SVP, Global Support Services

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Patrick Solomon and Steve Hollingworth, CARE's COO and EVP for Global Operations, spent the day with in the hart-hit town of Léogâne, southwest of Port-au-Prince, where CARE distributed water bladders, jerrycans and hygiene kits to 135,000 people.

by Rick Perera, CARE's emergency media officer in Haiti
January 18, 2009

Its name, Hôpital La Paix, means Peace — but this massively overflowing hospital is anything but peaceful. The largest medical facility still standing in devastated Port au Prince, La Paix is beyond overflowing with critically injured people.

by Rick Perera, emergency media officer in Haiti

Sunday, January 17, 2010

If charity begins at home, CARE is in the right place. Just outside our Haiti headquarters, many hundreds, perhaps thousands — no one has counted them — of newly homeless people are camped out in the main square of Pétionville, a near suburb of Port-au-Prince. They wait patiently in the hot sun, but their desperation grows by the hour. At night, groups of people can be heard clapping and chanting. Some have hung banners, painted on bedsheets, with messages like "We need help!" in English and Creole.

by Rick Perera, emergency media coordinator in Haiti

Sunday, January 17, 2010

I keep hearing the same question from journalists: why isn't aid getting to these desperate people faster? The answer is: aid workers are moving as fast as they can, but the conditions are grim. Haiti has never seen a catastrophe of this magnitude in modern times; it was already desperately poor to begin with; and in the aftermath of so many disasters in recent years, the people and infrastructure were utterly unprepared to cope.

by Rick Perera, emergency media coordinator in Haiti

Saturday, January 16, 2010

I'm with a convoy of three CARE vehicles carrying water purification supplies form the airport to three different points of distribution. In order to avoid the risk of mobs trying to take materials, we're using ordinary SUVs — Toyota Land Cruisers — and piling the materials low enough so they can be covered and out of view from the windows.

by Rick Perera, emergency media coordinator in Haiti

I am near the airport at the U.N. security base. CARE's country director in Haiti, Sophie Perez, and our emergency response leader, David Gazashvili, are here meeting with the heads of all the relief agencies. We are coordinating how best to get help to those in urgent need.

by Rick Perera, emergency media coordinator in Haiti

We're crossing the border at Jimeni, between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Things are moving fairly quickly, at least on the Dominican Republic side. We're seeing supplies crossing the border including search and explore teams with dogs, many large tanker trucks with water, backhoes and other construction equipment, mobile kitchens from the Dominican Republic, and many journalists.

by Rick Perera, emergency media coordinator in Haiti

A group of CARE staff and journalists – 12 of us in all, landed in the city of Puerto Plata in the northern coast of the Dominican Republic early this afternoon. We were welcomed as tourists by a steel drum band, scantily clad dancers and free cocktails. It was a surreal experience.

by Hauke Hoops, regional emergency coordinator in Haiti

This is one of the biggest disasters I’ve ever seen, and it is a huge logistical challenge. Everything has to come in by plane or boat, but the port is destroyed. The airport is overstretched, overcrowded with flights.

by Hauke Hoops, regional emergency coordinator in Haiti

Hauke Hoops, CARE’s Regional Emergency Coordinator, flew from Panama to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, just after midnight Jan. 13. We reached him at the airport in Santo Domingo Jan. 13 at 6 a.m. local time, as he was preparing to board a humanitarian flight to Port-au-Prince.

as told by Sophie Perez, CARE's Country Director in Haiti

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Sophie was in the CARE office in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake hit at about 5 p.m. local time January 12, 2010.
We reached her by phone at 6.30 a.m. local time the following morning.

by Seki Hirano, CARE shelter advisor
Palu Air, Pariaman District, West Sumatra
October 4, 2009

On September 30, Indra, a 20-year-old student in Padang, West Sumatra, received a desperate phone call from his mother. The island has just been struck with a massive earthquake. Indra left Padang and rushed back to his home in the remote village of Pulo Air. Fortunately, he arrived to find his mother safe. However, he found that half his village, along with two neighboring villages, had completely disappeared under a four-hectare-wide landslide. The edge of the slide had stopped just four metres from his house.

by Adjie Fachrurrazi, CARE emergency coordinator in Indonesia
October 5, 2009

It has been raining non-stop for the past six hours. Heavy, heavy rain.

People are traumatized. They are asking for help. Everyone is suffering. People say to me, "Don't count the number of destroyed houses. Count the number of houses still standing. It will be faster." In most villages I have seen, only 15 percent of houses are still standing. Some houses are totally flattened. The roof is flat on the ground. People lost everything. Their houses are destroyed, everything in them is destroyed. And everyone is afraid so those with houses will not go inside. There have been aftershocks over the past few days but today was mostly quiet. Everyone is afraid of another earthquake.

So people are sleeping outside, living outside. We are all wet. They have no shelter. Some people are sleeping under broken pieces of roof. Shelter is the main issue. People also need mosquito nets. They are sleeping outside, and with all this rain, there will be mosquitoes and malaria. Children are already starting to get sick. They need blankets, mosquito nets and plastic sheeting for shelter.

***

People are drinking coconut juice, or river water. People in these village used to get their water from springs, but the pipes are broken. In Padang city, the municipal water is not running yet.  The water from the river is not clean, and people don't have stoves to boil water. They need clean drinking water or there is going to be a rise in waterborne illness. We have supplies to help 5,000 people to start, but we need funds to help more.

***

There are many injured people and people still buried under buildings. It is very hard to reach the affected areas. Landslides have blocked roads and there is debris everywhere. Our team went out by motorbike today. We have 20 people on the emergency team, including staff from our local partner. This damage looks worse than the Yogyakarta quake in 2006.

It has been five days now. It's not clear how many people are affected yet. We don't have all the information from the rural areas. There are many dead bodies. And the smell is coming.

Oct. 1, 2009
At 9:00 pm local time, on Thursday, October 1, CARE worker Bahtra Tarigan arrived at the airport in Padang on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia with the rest of the CARE emergency response team. There is no power and no functional communications. By texting on his cell phone, Bahtra has been able to send short updates to the outside world about what he is seeing in the earthquake-devastated city. Information in italics was added for clarity; all other text is verbatim from Bahtra's text messages.