Tents and Tarps for Haiti Earthquake Relief

In response to the earthquake that hit Haiti on Saturday 14 August, Woy Magazine is raising funds to provide tarps and tents that are available for purchase in Haiti. The earthquake mostly caused damage in the southern parts of the country, particularly in the Nippes, Sud and Grand Anse departments. According to the latest official update (8/16/21) there are 1,419 dead and 6,900 people injured. According to a report from Saturday from the Civil Protection Agency, 7 369 houses were destroyed and nearly 5,000 were damaged leaving thousands of families without shelter. We know what this number will increase as a fuller evaluation of the damage is completed. With tropical storm Grace approaching, many are now having to deal with rainfall.

The tarps will be purchased and delivered by Olrich Jean Pierre a community leader and activist and Joseph Jacques Hebreux who is a lawyer and citizen journalist. Olrich and Joseph have experience with this sort of work, having already successfully coordinated a distribution effort of water and chlorine throughout IDP camps during the cholera epidemic.

This initiative has been green-lit by public authorities as instructed by Protection Civile. Thus far, the group has been able to order 800 tarps (at $5.50 each) and rope to tie them down. We are also making arrangements to buy tents that are being sold locally. Each tent costs about $50. Olrich and Joseph will make the purchases and deliver the tents and tarps to local community members in Okay and Anse a Vaux. Local community leaders in the South will determine who in their community will receive a tent or tarp according to the need.

The funds raised will allow us to buy additional tarps, tents and water. It will also cover the cost to transport the supplies and stipends for the team working on the ground (Olrich, Joseph and an accountant). This effort is being managed by a group of reliable people and it will conclude with a report on the expenses.

Update:  We made our goal! Because the response was so swift, we have decided to add another collaborator who can help us get things out quicker with two teams. The distribution of tents will be handled by Cassendy Lafond, artist and activist, who is experienced in providing aid to folks recently displaced in Martissant, and displaced people in Belair after the massacres of the summer of 2020. Lafond and his team of State University of Haiti student groups have traveled to the south to assess needs and connect with organizers on the ground. The distribution seeks to target the areas of Cavaillon, Lazil, Baradè, Torbeck, Chantal, Manich, Camp Perrin, Bomon. 

We will be providing reports of how the money is spent, and when the materials make it to the targeted locations.

(Photo credit: Ketzer Douzable)