Haiti earthquake:
Trócaire’s Response
Haiti: Fact file
Haiti is and island
located in the Caribbean.
• Capital: Port-au-Prince
• Population: 8,400,000
• Language: French
• Religion: Catholic,
Protestantism & Voodoo
Source: trocaire.org
Haiti Earthquake: Facts
• On 12th January, at 16.53h
local time, an earthquake
measuring 7.1 on the Richter
Scale hit a highly populated
area in Ouest Province of
Haiti, 17km south west of the
capital city, Port-au-Prince.
Haiti: Context
• Haiti is the poorest country in the • Nearly every year brings extreme
Americas. climate shocks. In particular flash
• Annual income per person is $560. foods as recent as September
• It is ranked 146th out of the 177 2008; four consecutive storms and
countries in the world on United hurricanes which killed 800 people
Nations Human Development Index. and another 800,000 also affected.
• 78% of people were already were
living on less than $2 per day before • Take Action
the disaster. • Check out www.trocaire.org for
• Haiti is also one of the most disaster background information on
prone countries in the world due to its Haiti before the earthquake
occurred.
high latitude tropics, mountainous
Hold a classroom debate on
terrain and severely degraded the following topic:
environment.
‘It is more important to reduce
poverty around the world than
to raise money for disaster
relief’.
The latest figures estimate that 200,000 people have
died since the earthquake struck (as of 20/01/10).
Hundreds of thousands of people have been left
homeless.
United Nations (UN) estimated that 3.5 million people will
be affected by the quake.
UN emergency teams estimate that over half of the
buildings in the worst hit area’s, have been damaged or
destroyed.
Trócaire’s Response…
• Trócaire has been working in Haiti since 1991.
• Through our partners, Caritas Internationalis,
Caritas Haiti and Catholic Relief Services,
Trócaire will be responding to those worst
effected by the disaster for quick delivery of
emergency aid.
• Trócaire’s partners have been working in Haiti
for a number of years. They know the area
and the people very well and so were able to
respond to those most in need immediately.
• Caritas Haiti is the local branch of Caritas
Internationalis. Within hours of the
earthquake their staff were providing food and
temporary shelter for survivors.
• In addition to running over 200 hospitals and
medical centres in Haiti, Caritas Haiti has
access to their network of parishes allowing
them have direct contact with communities.
Catholic Relief Service (CRS) was able to respond immediately.
CRS is distributing food and water to desperate quake survivors in
Port-au-Prince.
Trócaire’s emergency programme manager Maurice McQuillan
said , ‘The immediate needs are for tents for provisional shelters,
covers, clothing, clean water, food, psychological support, first
aid materials, drugs, flashlights and batteries’.
• Emergency workers are still trying to
save the lives of those trapped and
buried.
• The main priority will be to provide
food, water , healthcare and shelter
to survivors.
• Trócaire’s Director, Justin Kilcullen
stated ‘We need to ensure that we
respond not only to the material
needs of those affected but also to
concerns around safety and security
of the most vulnerable’.
Hygiene Kits
Curriculum Activities.
Junior Cert: CSPE (Section 4- Ireland & the Wider World)
Concepts: Interdependence and Development.
•Gather news stories, pictures and information from national
newspapers and from the sources listed below.
•www.trocaire.org
•http://news.bbc.co.uk
•http://www.alertnet.org
•www.guardian.co.uk
•www.reliefweb.int
•Hold an awareness display at your school.
•Put a presentation together and show it to other classes.
•Hand out information flyers.
Curriculum Activities.
Junior Cert: Geography (Unit A1: The earth’s surface:
shaping the crust)
•Look up a map of the world and mark out all the
countries an earthquake has occurred in the last 10 years.
•Look up the following words:
•Epicentre
•Seismic Waves
•Richter Scale
•Hypocentre
Curriculum Activities.
Junior Cert: English (Social Literacy)
In emergencies, like the earthquake in Haiti, it is often
argued that people who already live in poverty, that suffer
the most. People living in poverty are vulnerable to start
with. For example, the houses they live in are often made
from poor quality material.
•Hold a classroom debate on the following topic:
‘ The poorest areas are the ones that suffer the most during
and after a natural disaster’.
Curriculum Activities.
Prayer for Reflection
God of all creation, as we weep with our family in Haiti, console us.
In this time of crisis, open our eyes to look beyond the disaster
to see Christ in our brothers and sisters in Haiti, as Christ sees us.
Be with all creation; strengthen us in solidarity with those living and
working in Haiti. All creation returns to you in mourning and your
grace guides our efforts to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless,
comfort the grieving and stand for justice.
With your mercy, sustain us at this time as we continue to work for
peace and justice.
Amen.
Care of Catholic Relief Services/CRS
Trócaire would like to acknowledge our partner Caritas
Internationalis for allowing us to use their photos.
www.caritas.org.