Emergency Relief Assistance in the Southern Border

March 1st, 2010 11:07am

ERASB

Servicio Social de Iglesias Dominicanas (SSID) has begun working in collaboration with Church World Service and Christian Aid in Haiti to provide assistance for more than 2,000 people living in emergency camps, and is the first time SSID and Christian Aid have worked together. The camps are located in Ganthier and Bwen, cities about 25 and 20 miles, respectively, from Port-au-Prince. The camps are made up of more than 600 families who have had their homes destroyed or severely damaged by the earthquake that happened on January 12th, 2010. The aim of the project, Emergency Relief Assistance in the Southern Border, or ERASB, is to provide the people living in these camps with adequate food, water, and shelter for the following months until the families are able to return to their homes or find opportunities elsewhere.

The camp in Ganthier is led and organized by a Haitian pastor from the community. He has organized the more than 1,300 people living there into groups of 30 people, with a woman leading each group. It is through this woman leader that each group receives their food and supplies, and it allows for the peaceful distribution of desperately needed supplies. In Bwen the camp is directly alongside the highway, and is made up of more than 700 people, and like in Ganthier are sleeping beneath makeshift shelters, made out of branches and bed sheets to provide relief from the sun, but offer little protection from the rain.

SPHERE Standards

SSID will be providing these two camps with food, water, and shelter while adhering to the minimum standards set forward by SPHERE. These standards were developed with the aim of improving "the quality of assistance to people affected by disaster and improve the accountability of states and humanitarian agencies to their constituents, donors and the affected populations." By following these standards we are able to prevent disease, insure nutritional needs are met, and protect our partners' dignity. Ganthier and Bwen will be the first two camps in which SSID will be using the standards in response to disaster and it will be implemented throughout their other camps if found to be useful by our Haitian partners.

SPHERE standards require that each person receive a set quantity of food and water, and have ample space for sleeping arrangements and shelter. In order to provide the 2,000 people living in these camps SSID will be sending almost 2,500 pounds of rice, beans, and fish every day, and supplying the camps with 17,500 gallons of drinking water each week. They will also be sending mattresses, sheets, tarps, and hygiene supplies for each of the more than 600 families.  SSID has already began to send supplies as part of the ERASB project, and will be delivering tarps, water, and food this week.

To see pictures from the camp in Ganthier Click Here