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    • Nov 3, 2021
    • 4 min read

Earthquake Relief Update #3



This is the 3rd and final update for phase 1 of GCF’s relief efforts.

Two and a half months have now passed since a 7.2 magnitude earthquake stroke the southern peninsula of Haiti, and based on our team observations, the situation is still overwhelmingly dismal. GCF completed its 10th week of relief effort as we are stretching our resources to the max. As of October 30th, through the medical relief efforts, we've cared for 6,676 victims in 32 distinct locations. We distributed water, food and hygiene products to close to 1000 families. The need is still enormous! Trust that your financial and in-kind contributions have already touched thousands of lives. None of what we’ve accomplished so far would have been possible without your trust and support.


Medical Relief

We continued with our medical relief efforts and have been going to locations recommended by the Minister of Health and Population (MSPP). In GCF's response plan, we estimated that we would have cared for 2000 victims. As of October 30th, 2021, in collaboration with local Doctors and Nurses from Klinik Fonfred, FHHH and HANA-I, we have exceeded our expectation more than three fold and have cared for 6,676 victims. We’ve seen many cases of skin infections due to the worsened living conditions. We also noticed many cases of the chronic conditions that are rampant in Haiti: unmanaged Hypertension, Diabetes, Vaginitis and Gastritis. The demand for medical care has magnified and many of those we cared for, especially the children, are in need of psychological assistance. GCF is still exploring the possibility of integrating 1 to 2 Psychologists at Klinik Fonfred for the next few months to help provide a space for some victims to receive group counseling on site, and for a minimum period of 3 months. Thank you to our collaborating partners:

Klinik Fonfrèd was instrumental in providing logistics, transportation, medicine, staff, and overall management of all Team GCF mobile clinics.

MSPP (Ministry of Public Health and Population) provided guidance and overall management of medical relief efforts in the South.

HANA-I (Haitian American Nurses Association International) contributed experienced local nurses to Team GCF mobile clinics.

FHHH (Foundation for Hope Health in Haïti) contributed experienced local doctors and nurses to Team GCF mobile clinics.

NJ4H (New Jersey for Haïti ) contributed a mission team of local doctors and nurses, with medicine, to Team GCF mobile clinics.

Matthew 28 provided a mission team of local doctors and nurses, with medicine , to Team GCF mobile clinics.

Team GCF Mobile clinic was composed of 12 to 18 doctors and nurses from multiple collaborating organizations. The support team included:

  • 3 GCF Board members on the grounds

  • 30 local volunteers who took turns to support our mobile clinics, handle our storage logistics, as well as prepared and distributed the kits

  • 20 volunteers in the US who handled shipping, logistics, communication, social media and provided moral and spiritual support


Family Kit Distribution

We distributed food, water, and hygiene kits to about 1000 families. Our approach is simple:

  • Department de la Protection Civile Sud (DPC-Sud) shared with GCF the communities to be prioritized. We insisted on getting our priorities from DPC as they knew the communities that had not yet received any humanitarian relief.

  • Our team visited those communities to assess the need and identified the victimized families.

  • During that assessment, we delivered a 5-gallon water bottle for each family

  • In areas near Les Cayes, we also gave the head of each family a coupon to redeem their kit at a local distributor's store. For the more remote areas, our team personally delivered the food kits. We adopted this strategy, as much as possible, to protect our team and ensure the real victims received relief, as well as to avoid large crowd distributions.

We prepared about 500 additional kits. Each family received a kit consisting of rice, corn grown locally, beans, salmon, spaghetti, and oil to cook a meal for about 2 weeks. So far every community we've served, we were the first one there. The need was so great that we decided to increase the quantity of food and hygiene kits. Our last round of distribution took place last week as we‘re currently in the midst of transitioning into the second phase of our response whose focal point is rehabilitation.


Next Steps - Kick-off Phase 2

With the end of Phase 1, we are kicking off Phase 2 and focusing our effort on reconstruction of temporary shelters, fixing Klinik Fonfred's damages, and selecting homes for rehabilitation. We are also working with MSPP to rehabilitate 1-2 « dispensaires, » so they could continue to provide services to their local communities. We have estimated $200,000 for phase 2 of our response.


Challenges

  • In spite of the shipping bottlenecks and bureaucracy, donated supplies from Northside Hospital Atlanta Georgia, Boynton Beach and Broward County were received and delivered to our site in Les Cayes. Because of the inherent delay due to above mentioned reasons, we had to utilize Klinik Fonfrèd's reserve medical supplies and purchase medications in Les Cayes to keep the medical relief going.

  • Traveling to the south is still considered unsafe due to social and political unrest, and fuel shortage.

  • The need is overwhelming. In order to maximize the impact of our resources, our team on the ground continues to be disciplined and innovative.

Money Update - Thank you to all our supporters!

To date, we have raised more than $225,486, of which $ 81,656 have been spent to complete Phase 1. We are less than $25,000 away from reaching our fund raising goal of $250,000 for phases one and two of our relief. THANK YOU!




For a list of all our donors, please visit the GCF Earthquake Relief Fund


Expenses



How can you help?

Please help us meet our $250,000 fund raising goal for phases 1 and 2 of our response. We are only $24,514 away from our goal. Share this link with all your friends and family www.gaskov.org/gofundgcf


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Email us: info@gaskov.org

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With our deepest gratitude,

GCF - Team 2021 Earthquake


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