Chances for Children Blog
contact us
Earthquake Strikes Haiti
Update from Chances for Children regarding the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti today
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Due to the recent developments with the earthquake in Haiti today we wanted to update you on what we know.
First of all, thanks to all of you for your thoughts and concerns during this tragedy - the number of people who have reached out to us today is overwhelming and we are very grateful for the compassionate support of the extended Chances for Children family.
When events like this occur in highly developed countries, early on there are many inaccuracies in the reporting, and with the lack of significant infrastructure in Haiti, we can not rely on 100 percent of what is currently being reported. What we do know and can report is that all of the staff and all of the children are safe and uninjured from the quake and aftershocks...the transit house ( which is in downtown Port au Prince ) has experienced some significant structural damage. The creche (the main building in Lamardelle ) also had damage but to a lesser extent. We do not yet know the status of the village school. We wanted to release this preliminary information to our network of families and supporters as soon as we could confirm the information.
While we are grateful that our operation, our children and our partners at FEJ have survived this massive quake - we are truly saddened by what this means for Haiti. This has been a devastating day for the people in Haiti. Many, many wonderful people will now be dealing with yet another catastrophe that will make day to day life in Haiti nearly impossible. If what is being reported is halfway accurate it is very difficult to imagine how this region is going to cope with the devastation.
After the dust settles (literally), we will get back to you with an update and a 'how we can help' guidleline of potential activities.
Please put the people of Haiti in your thoughts and prayers...they already have plenty of challenges in their daily life.........they did not need or deserve another sucker punch, which is exactly what they got today.
Kathi and Craig Juntunen
Chances for Children
