Shelter from the Rains

February 19th 2010

The rainy season begins in March, followed by the onset of hurricane season in June, posing serious threats to the health and well-being of people living in makeshift shelters. Lack of drainage ditches and proper shelter to withstand the rains leads to pools of standing water which promotes the spread of water-borne illnesses.

Jacques Wylens’s family lost their home and all their belongings in the quake. He and his parents now live with five other people in a shack made of salvaged bits of wood and tin. It has rained twice since the quake, sending steady streams of water onto Jacques and his family.

There are 1.2 million others like them, squatting outside their ruined homes, packed into squalid camps on patches of open space in the city center, camped out in the middle of streets hastily blocked off with bits of rubble. A “shelter” often consists of a faded floral bed sheet strung between poles – hardly enough to block out the fierce Caribbean sun, and useless against the rains that will com in March.

CARE helped the Wylenses with a shelter kit containing a heavy plastic sheet, poles, rope, a water container, blankets, a kitchen kit with bowls, plates, pots and pans, and a hygiene kit with the basics such as shampoo, toothpaste, towels, and sanitary napkins – minimum household needs for people who have lost everything.

“The coming month will be all about the rain. We need to get these people waterproof shelter,” said Lizzie Babister, Senior Shelter Advisor for CARE in Haiti. CARE is providing 10,000 families with tents or shelter kits, enough for 50,000 people, and will be working with the people of Haiti in the long term to help them rebuild. Emergency shelter is just the first hurdle; with tens of thousands of homes and buildings completely destroyed, the need for a clear reconstruction plan, along with the resources to implement it, is becoming an increasingly painful reality.

Fri, 02/19/2010 - 00:00 by admin 0