Earthquake Relief Summary

Following the 7.0 earthquake on January 12, 2010, thousands of aid organizations flooded into the Haitian capital city of Port-au-Prince. Three days after the disaster, SOIL followed suit as we packed up our little truck with supplies and staff from Cap-Haitien and drove the 6 hours to the capital. We arrived in Port-au-Prince late evening of January 15 and immediately got to work.

As a small organization operating in Haiti since 2006, we had the fluency, freedom, and contacts to begin traveling the ravaged city to find the communities with the greatest need. While many organizations were waiting for clearance to distribute resources, SOIL was able to put money and materials directly into the hands of community organizers, enabling them to reach the people waiting for aid. Thanks to the generosity of our friends and supporters around the world, we were able to provide over $60,000 of aid, with all money going directly into emergency relief. Take a look at what we accomplished together, and the work that lies ahead.

Port-au-Prince Response

• Delivered over 100,000 gallons of water to displaced people living in camps throughout the city.

• Gave over $25,000 to community organizers, who purchased food from local businesses and delivered to areas most in need, reaching thousands of families.

• Purchased and distributed over 1,000 tarps, providing temporary shelter to displaced families.

• Provided logistics and medicines for mobile health clinics, medical translation, and transport of patients between hospitals.

Cap-Haitien Response

In Cap-Haitien, SOL was one of the first organizations to provide aid for victims of the earthquake relocating to the North:

• Rented tents for the hospital and mayor’s office in Milot

• Purchased and distributed $30,000 of food, medicine and hygiene kits to earthquake victims in hospitals and temporary IDP camps in the north. 

Ongoing Recovery Efforts

Prior to the earthquake, Port-au-Prince did not have a city-wide sanitation system. Hundreds of thousands of people never had access to a toilet and were reduced to going to the bathroom in plastic bags or nearby ravines. As survivors of the earthquake flooded camps that would become temporary housing, poor sanitation threatened to lead to a major public health crisis. Sanitation solutions were urgently needed in order to prevent the spread of disease in these camps of proximity.

As the days turned into months, the international community began to shift their strategies, moving from emergency to recovery. As a response to the sanitation crisis, in mid- March, SOIL began a 6-month project with OXFAM piloting ecological sanitation in small IDP (internally displaced persons) camps. This project will:

• Focus efforts on piloting ecological technologies in wake of disaster

• Build 150 toilets in small IDP camps in PAP

• Construct a pilot composting site for PAP

• Train 100 masons to build urine diversion toilets

• Provide community education around ecological sanitation

To learn more about this project, check out our Port-au-Prince page. In the meantime, please consider sustaining the work of SOIL as we continue to respond to this national disaster. We may not be able to repair the damage in 6 months, but this does not slow us down. SOIL is dedicated to staying in Haiti for the long term, maintaining our current projects and participating in the creation of sustainable livelihoods. Thank you to all of the big-hearted people that donated to make these results possible. Your generosity touched the lives of so many, and for this we are deeply grateful.