Day 1: Haiti Recovery

On January 12, 2010, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake shook the impoverished nation of Haiti, causing widespread destruction and loss of life.

UMCOR’s chief partner in both immediate relief and long-range recovery in Haiti is L’Église Méthodiste d’Haïti (EMH), the Methodist Church of Haiti. UMCOR reopened a field office in Port-au-Prince and is collaborating with EMH in the development of cash-for-work programs for survivors, demolition and debris removal, and strengthening and developing the church’s human resources.

The UMCOR work plan anticipates three phases of recovery: emergency, recovery, and rehabilitation. The emergency phase addressed the most immediate needs of access to food, clean water and sanitation, temporary shelter, and emotional and spiritual support.

During the recovery phase, which is expected to run through the first-year anniversary of the disaster, UMCOR is responding to needs for increasingly permanent homes, schools, clinics, and churches; livelihood restoration; and income generation, among other concerns.

The third phase, rehabilitation, will likely stretch through January 2015, and will offer assistance for both physical reconstruction and economic development, as well as rebuilding systems, such as health and education.

With thousands of US-based volunteers anxious to lend a hand in Haiti, UMCOR worked with EMH and United Methodist Volunteers In Mission to establish an arrangement for US volunteers to serve in Haiti without displacing Haitian workers in need of a recovery job.  Under the arrangement, for every US volunteer on a project, two Haitians are at work.

Support will continue to be needed, as tents give way to temporary shelters, and ultimately, to permanent homes, schools, places of worship, and small businesses.

Haiti Emergency, UMCOR Advance #418325

To make an additional donation and learn more go to www.umcorhaiti.org

Quick Facts

• UMCOR participates in a roundtable in the Dominican Republic with the Église Methodist d’Haiti (EMH) and an international coalition of Methodist and ecumenical church groups to discuss short-term and long-term priorities for the EMH in areas such as education, reconstruction, health, and long-term development. Partners included the Dominican Evangelical Church, Methodist Church of Britain, United Church of Canada, Church World Service, Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas, and Global Ministries (Women’s Division, Mission and Evangelism, and Mission Volunteers)

• UMCOR collaborates with Église Methodist d’Haiti in the development of cash-for-work programs for survivors in demolition and debris removal and in strengthening and developing the church’s human resources.

• UMCOR meets with more than 25 leaders of the Église Methodist d’Haiti to strategize on long-term development in Haiti. The three-day workshop focuses on Haiti’s future and is attended by circuit superintendents, lay members, church leadership as well as representatives from Global Ministries, United Church of Canada, and The Methodist Church of Great Britain. Health, education, microenterprise, and agriculture are among the priorities identified as priorities in recovery.

• UMCOR supports Grace Children’s Hospital’s effort to continue providing services.

• UMCOR sets up school tents in Corail settlement site and Tabarre Issa community schools so schoolchildren can return to normal activities.

Volunteer Information: For more information on how to volunteer, please contact your regional jurisdictional coordinator.

North Central: Lorna Jost
928 4th Street, Office #2, Brookings, SD 57006
Tel: 605-692-3390,

Northeastern: Gregory Forrester
32 North Church Street, Cortland, NY 13045
Tel: 607-756-7799,

South Central: Debbie Vest
15120 Sunningdale Street, Austin TX, 78717
Tel: 913-568-8826,

Southeastern: Paulette West
315 W. Ponce de Leon Ave, Suite 750, Decatur, GA 30030
Tel: 404-377-7424,

Western: Heather Wilson
11707 Terra Bella, Lakeview Terrace, CA 91342
Tel: 818-333-6730,