February 17, 2010

CHICAGO (ELCA) – With the rainy season expected to begin at the end of March, it is critical that the people of Haiti have some shelter to help preserve health, sanitation and dignity, according to a Feb. 17 report from a Lutheran World Relief (LWR) assessment team in Haiti. To help "beat the clock," Lutherans are working quickly to set up shelters for Haitians displaced from their homes since the Jan. 12 earthquake.

"The rains will also pose a threat to infrastructure," reported LWR. "On the road between Port-au-Prince and Jacmel, there are large piles of dirt that have been pushed aside by bulldozers. After the first heavy rain these areas will become a mess and possibly make the road impassable again."

LWR is a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Providing shelter is also a top priority for the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for World Service (DWS) in Haiti. According to Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, DWS program coordinator, the LWF plans to provide shelters for 15,000 families in four rural communities, 35 kilometers west of Port-au-Prince.

Faria said the need to adhere to strict United Nations regulations for the new temporary accommodations require that there be an 18.5 square meter space per family, a corrugated iron roof, and wood, bamboo or steel frames well covered with plastic sheeting.

In the longer term, DWS Haiti will focus on building more permanent housing.

"The fear of staying in a house or building for fear it will collapse; traversing around piles of rubble; the embarrassment of conducting private acts in public, these are now all accepted parts of daily life" in Haiti, said Chris Herlinger, communication officer for Church World Service (CWS), in a Feb. 15 report. Herlinger was on assignment in Haiti this month.

More than 31,000 hygiene kits, some 4,500 baby care kits and about 4,000 blankets have been distributed in Haiti since the earthquake, reported CWS – a partner of the ELCA.

Action by Churches Together (ACT) and its members like the LWF and CWS have also provided water, sanitation, shelter or food to more than 150,000 people in Haiti.

ACT is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working together in disaster response and development. It is based in Geneva with the LWF. The ELCA is a member of the LWF.

Since the earthquake the ELCA has received more than $4.6 million to support humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti. Financial gifts from the ELCA are used to purchase and distribute medicine, drinking water, food, emergency shelter, sanitation and hygiene kits and other materials to aid survivors of the earthquake. Lutherans are also working to provide psychosocial serves and other support.

The funds are being distributed to the three partner organizations of the ELCA working on the ground in Haiti – CWS, based in New York; the LWF, Geneva; and LWR, Baltimore.

Financial contributions to support earthquake relief efforts in Haiti can be made at http://www.ELCA.org/haitiearthquake/, or by calling 800-638-3522.

ELCA News Service