Two Months In, UUSC Is Meeting Haiti Triple Disaster with Triple Response

As the world solemnly marks the two-month anniversary of the devastating January 12 earthquake, people in Haiti are still in desperate need of strategic, organized relief. The disaster has taken three major forms: massive destruction, huge death tolls, and a botched international relief effort. UUSC is meeting this triple disaster with a triple response — work with partners on the ground, outreach to members and supporters, and advocacy for policy change.

The situation on the ground

The earthquake left in its wake overwhelming numbers: 75 percent of educational structures were destroyed as infrastructure throughout Port-au-Prince was leveled; only 40 percent of survivors currently have adequate shelter as the rainy season swiftly approaches; more than half a million people have been displaced to the countryside; and over 230,000 people died in a small geographical region. Death-toll estimates are rivaling those from the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, which was spread over nine countries.

But this is about more than numbers. It's about Chrisiane, a Haitian peasant who has taken in 16 people in addition to the 11 already living with her. "If God spares someone, what can you do? You must help them," she said. It's about Jean Robert, leader of the Platform of Community Organizations of the Port-au-Prince Metropolitan Zone (COZPAM), who works tirelessly to organize relief while mourning the death of his wife and the loss of his home. "In the face of unimaginable tragedy, they're pulling together everything they have to help each other," reflects Martha Thompson, manager for UUSC's Rights in Humanitarian Crises Program.   

In a country where resources were scarce before, they are now are under unprecedented strain. John Holmes, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, heavily criticized his own institution for its failure to effectively deliver relief in Haiti, reporting that efforts were still not functioning properly five weeks after the earthquake. Poor coordination amongst aid groups hampered distribution, keeping recovery efforts mired in the emergency phase more than a month after the disaster. But while the professional relief continues to be tangled in problems, Haitians are finding extraordinary resources in and amongst themselves to aid each other.

Partners providing relief

UUSC's assessment team that visited Haiti in February identified multilayered emergencies for thousands of people both in Port-au-Prince and in outlying rural areas. Partnering with grassroots organizations in the Central Plateau, the Artibonite, and Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, UUSC has been supplying funds for basic food, shelter, and supplies. UUSC has also been supporting the peasant organizations who are registering internally displaced persons so that they are not overlooked in aid delivery. 

Most recently, UUSC is addressing multiple requests for grief and trauma treatment by bringing the U.S.-based Trauma Resource Institute to Haiti to offer an innovative somatic trauma-response method that helps people build resiliency in the face of trauma. UUSC is also collaborating with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Development, Design and Dissemination lab (D-Lab), which will work with UUSC's partners on techniques for creating biomass charcoal and harvesting water — technologies that can immediately help reduce pressure on resources.

In addition, while urging the World Food Program to expand operations to the entire country, UUSC is coordinating a joint emergency fund for food purchase to support 10,000 earthquake survivors in the Central Plateau. As UUSC addresses immediate needs, it also works toward a long-range vision, making local aid purchases to strengthen the local economy and supplying food so that people can conserve their seed stocks for future planting and avoid having to eat them now.

Moving forward, UUSC seeks to work with partners to strengthen the work of Haitian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with the displaced in areas that have received much less aid, such as the huge shantytown of Mariani in Port-au-Prince, focus on expanding registration of unaccompanied children while developing models for care, increase food production, and look for ways to increase access to education and livelihoods for internally displaced persons in rural areas. UUSC is enlisting the help of Agathe Jean Baptiste, a representative in Haiti, to work with partners on relief efforts. Her work will include identifying which groups in Port-au-Prince, such as amputees, are finding the most difficulty reestablishing their lives.

Mobilizing members

Here in the United States, UUSC is mobilizing members and supporters — who have donated more than $1.6 million to the UUSC/UUA Joint Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, which continues to grow. In addition to reaching out to UU congregations with a sample order-of-service insert, UUSC has partnered with local NGOs to organize trainings and clinics to assist Haitians in the United States apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). This status allows them to live and work lawfully in the United States without fear of deportation for 18 months. As of mid-February, only about 15,000 out of an expected 200,000 eligible people have applied, and less than 300 have applied for fee waivers.

With more than 270 volunteers taking part, the TPS trainings — which will feed volunteers into clinics in Boston, New York, Miami, and Atlanta — will look to change that in a concrete, hands-on way. "It's been amazing," says Kara Smith, UUSC campaign assistant. "There's really been an outpouring of support." Nichole Cirillo, UUSC campaign manager, reinforces the UUSC partnership model in the new TPS work, saying, "We don't want to enter this with a sense of charity, but rather with a sense of service to the community."

Ensuring Haitians a place at the table

UUSC is also working closely with human-rights, faith-based, and development organizations to influence policymakers to promote a just recovery for Haiti and ensure the most vulnerable populations are not left out of the process. "We really want to lift up Haitian voices and help them have a seat at the table, especially when long-term reconstruction priorities are being set," says Shelley Moskowitz, UUSC's manager for public policy in Washington, D.C.

UUSC is urging the international community to cancel Haiti's massive debt and provide new assistance in the form of grants, not loans. Thanks to grassroots advocacy, Representative Maxine Waters' Debt Relief for Earthquake Recovery in Haiti Act (H.R. 4573) gained bipartisan support and passed easily by voice vote on March 10. UUSC has also joined with allies to press the White House to request emergency supplemental aid to promote a Haitian-led recovery. Action is expected in Congress in the coming weeks.  

As emergency relief stabilizes and mid- and long-term recovery work begins, UUSC will continue to work with partners, monitor policy developments, and recommend action steps.