Southern Baptist disaster relief ministry monitoring Haiti EQ

Following is a briefing from Coy Webb, crisis response director for Southern Baptists’ Send Relief ministry. This briefing has been edited and updated.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (Special) — Send Relief, the compassion ministry effort of the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board and International Mission Board, is responding and continuing to assess needs for the Saturday, August 14, major 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti.

The earthquake caused severe damage to infrastructure, including hospitals, bridges, and roads. Search and rescue activities continue in the affected area. Tropical Storm Grace will cause increased difficulties in assessment and response.

Send Relief’s initial assessments indicate more than 700 collapsed buildings, including hospitals, schools, and churches, and over 7,000 destroyed homes with an additional 5,000-plus damaged. The quake has forced at least 470 people to seek refuge in shelters, with thousands displaced.

The quake has resulted in over 1,297 dead and around 5,700 more injured, with these figures likely to increase significantly in the coming days as more are still missing. Despite its strength and depth, the quake is less catastrophic than that of 2010, the worst disaster in the country’s history, which left more than 300,000 people dead and 1.5 million others injured.

The greatest needs identified in early assessments [in the latest earthquake] are medical assistance, water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Send Relief partners in Haiti indicate that the instability and spike in violence and gang activity has created a security status issue at the present time that prohibits the utilization of volunteers in the response.  The prognosis is that crime and gang activity may worsen because of the quake for an unforeseen time. 

Chronic poverty issues, COVID-19, political instability, and threat of violence are all complicating the response in Haiti.

Send Relief is partnering with the Florida Baptist Convention and Haitian Baptist partners on the ground in response.  The Florida Baptist Convention has a long-term relationship with Haiti, and Send Relief believes that this connection is the best current partner for Send Relief efforts in Haiti.

Following is a briefing from Coy Webb, crisis response director for Southern Baptists’ Send Relief ministry. This briefing has been edited and updated.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (Special) — Send Relief, the compassion ministry effort of the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board and International Mission Board, is responding and continuing to assess needs for the Saturday, August 14, major 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti.

The earthquake caused severe damage to infrastructure, including hospitals, bridges, and roads. Search and rescue activities continue in the affected area. Tropical Storm Grace will cause increased difficulties in assessment and response.

Send Relief’s initial assessments indicate more than 700 collapsed buildings, including hospitals, schools, and churches, and over 7,000 destroyed homes with an additional 5,000-plus damaged. The quake has forced at least 470 people to seek refuge in shelters, with thousands displaced.

The quake has resulted in over 1,297 dead and around 5,700 more injured, with these figures likely to increase significantly in the coming days as more are still missing. Despite its strength and depth, the quake is less catastrophic than that of 2010, the worst disaster in the country’s history, which left more than 300,000 people dead and 1.5 million others injured.

The greatest needs identified in early assessments [in the latest earthquake] are medical assistance, water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Send Relief partners in Haiti indicate that the instability and spike in violence and gang activity has created a security status issue at the present time that prohibits the utilization of volunteers in the response.  The prognosis is that crime and gang activity may worsen because of the quake for an unforeseen time. 

Chronic poverty issues, COVID-19, political instability, and threat of violence are all complicating the response in Haiti.

Send Relief is partnering with the Florida Baptist Convention and Haitian Baptist partners on the ground in response.  The Florida Baptist Convention has a long-term relationship with Haiti, and Send Relief believes that this connection is the best current partner for Send Relief efforts in Haiti.

Send Relief advises that the best current way for churches and others to help Haiti is prayer and giving to support response efforts. Financial gifts can be made online at Send Relief:  https://www.sendrelief.org/projects/haiti-earthquake/.