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Caritas official: Agencies must gear up to help Haitians in long term

By Barbara J. Fraser
Catholic News Service

LIMA, Peru (CNS) -- Nearly two weeks after the Haitian earthquake, Catholic aid agencies must gear up to provide longer-term food, housing and health care assistance to people who lost their homes and possessions.

But even the massive amount of aid pouring into the country is dwarfed by the overwhelming needs of people who lost their homes, families, jobs and possessions in the Jan. 12 quake, said Hector Hanashiro, Caritas emergency coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean.

"There is still a great lack of assistance," Hanashiro told Catholic News Service in an e-mail interview. "There are not enough donations for the 3 million people who have been affected and more than 200,000 injured survivors of the earthquake."

On Jan. 24, a government spokesman said 150,000 bodies had been buried, and some officials said the death toll could be as high as 200,000.

About 2 million people were affected in Port-au-Prince, and 1 million more in other cities, including Jacmel, Gressier, Carrefour and Petit-Goave, Hanashiro said. Some 500,000 people who lost their homes are living in makeshift camps around the Haitian capital, he said.

"There are specific high-risk groups that need assistance, including pregnant women, people with chronic illnesses, children who have been orphaned, and people who were injured and who, because of trauma and complications, have had to have limbs amputated," Hanashiro said.

In a country where basic services were scant and about 75 percent of the population lived in poverty even before the quake, the most pressing needs are food, health care, water, sanitation services and housing.

"The destruction in Port-au-Prince has caused the displacement of people to other provinces and to the Dominican Republic," Hanashiro said. "People who have lost their homes and jobs are migrating, so there are thousands of displaced families in other provinces because of the lack of assistance."

Many families are still searching for their loved ones, a quest that is even more difficult because some of the injured were evacuated to hospitals in the Dominican Republic, he said.

In addition to the Dominican Republic, many other injured were evacuated to emergency U.S. health care facilities.

Looking beyond the immediate needs, Hanashiro added, "because of the breakdown of the Haitian economy, it is crucial to create temporary jobs immediately and sustainable employment in the long term."

Caritas, the Catholic Church's aid network that includes Catholic Relief Services in the United States, has designed a response plan that includes immediate food, shelter, health care, water and sanitation, and psychological and social assistance for about 40,000 families, or 200,000 people, Hanashiro said. The Vatican has asked CRS, which already had a large presence in Haiti, to take the lead in the Caritas effort.

"The strategy we are using is to coordinate with base communities and parishes, as well as the diocesan Caritas offices in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other dioceses, to identify the priority zones and groups, in order to channel the urgent assistance immediately. So far, we have been able to distribute aid to 26,500 families," he said.

Caritas also provided rescue equipment and medical teams.

"The Caritas office is providing lodging and support for about 60 specialists from Mexico, South Africa and Jamaica, who have brought equipment, medicines and materials for rescue work and specialized care in field hospitals," Hanashiro said.

International assistance has been hampered by lack of coordination among aid agencies, but Hanashiro said the greatest problem was simply the magnitude of the disaster.

"While many countries and organizations are offering aid and cooperation, it is not enough," he said. "Food assistance does not meet the demand in the neighborhoods and camps. There is high demand for medical care, but a limited number of specialists and medicines, and minimal facilities for operations. There is a need for more water and for removal of rubble and waste, and roofing and shelter are in short supply."