Marie Lucie Osias (L), lives with her son (R), the lone earthquake survivor among her four children, in a makeshift shelter. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/LWR/ACT Alliance)

Click here to read the full article on shelter needs from the ACT Alliance.

People hold candles during a mass in the shadows of the ruins of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, which was devastated in a January 12 earthquake. Paul Jeffrey ACT Alliance

It has been one month of suffering since the earthquake in Haiti. In Port-au-Prince and other parts of Haiti, individuals and families affected commemorated the tragedy this weekend. In churches and public spaces tens and tens of thousands gathered to share their grief, prayers and hope for days ahead.  ELCA Disaster Response, through the ACT Alliance, is supporting many of these families that gathered recently in hymn and prayer. 

I invite you to view a slide-show of this at: Prayers & Hymns in Haiti

Haitians, like this boy, scavenge amidst the rubble for something of value in the devastated center of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, which was ravaged by a January 12 earthquake. Photo by Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance.

I want to share with you a letter received from Pastor Joseph Livenson Lauvanus, the President of the Lutheran Church in Haiti.  On January 20th, the ELCA formalized our relationship with the church in Haiti, showing greater solidarity and commitment to accompany this small church as it responds to the needs of its community in the wake of this national disaster. 

Pr. Lauvanus was in Florida when the earthquake happened but on January 29th, with the assistance of ELCA Disaster Response, he flew to the Dominican Republic, where he then traveled via a UN Humanitarian Relief Convoy back to Haiti.  He is currently staying on the LWF compound.

This letter describs his impressions after returning to his homeland after the disaster. Please keep Pr. Lauvanus in your prayers.

Dear friends,

I reach Haiti yesterday afternoon. It was time for me to finally see things for myself for me not to live in denial anymore. From the DR to the LWF I did not see much of what was going on. I just see a few demolished buildings. This morning I went to Port-au-Prince and from there to Carrefour, and it is the first time in my entire life I’ve seen so much destructions.   Read More…

Greetings!

My name is Rev. Kevin Massey. I’m the director of the ELCA’s Domestic Disaster Response and Lutheran Disaster Response. I’m in Florida today supporting the work of a wonderful Lutheran agency, Lutheran Services Florida. Lutheran Services Florida has responded to a request for help from the State of Florida to help them serve many Haitian Americans who are coming to the United States from Haiti following the earthquake.

Meet Denis Noreus with Lutheran Services Florida. Denis is coordinating Creole speaking volunteers who meet Haitian Americans coming to the United States. Thank you for your compassionate service Denis!

Lutheran Services Florida has strong relationships with the Haitian American community and is coordinating Creole speaking volunteers at the Sanford International Airport near Orlando and in Tampa. I visited their work at Sanford Airport today, and you can’t imagine how relieved people were getting off the plane to be met by someone who welcomes them and speaks their language and comforts them!

The ELCA has granted Lutheran Services Florida with $25,000 to support their work caring for the needs of those whom they serve affected by the Haiti Earthquake. Lutheran Services Florida is using these funds to provide emergency hardship funds to help people arriving who need some basic needs provided for. Thank you to all who have given to the ELCA’s Haiti Response. You have already helped many through the work of Lutheran Services Florida.

Please pray for Denis Noreus and the many volunteers and staff of Lutheran Services Florida as they serve in this way. Please pray for the people in Haiti and everywhere affected by the Earthquake.

In Christ, Kevin

My name is Megan Bradfield, and I serve as the associate director of international disaster response for the ELCA.  Welcome to the ELCA Disaster Response blog!

My colleagues and I will be using this blog as a way to share information with you, for now primarily about the unfolding relief efforts in Haiti continuing with on-going information on other disaster response topics from the US and around the world.

A family in the Haitian village of Dabonne stands in front of the temporary shelter they built following the destruction of their home in a January 12 earthquake. They used old lumber salvaged from the ruins of their previous house. Photo by Paul Jeffrey/ACT.

In the near future, you will be meet Louis Dorvilier here on the blog.  Louis is the director of international disaster response and a native Haitian.  He is currently using his expertise to serve his native Haitian community, working on a team from the Lutheran World Federation and Action by Churches Together (ACT) Alliance, which the ELCA is a member of.  Among other things, Louis is working to assess the situation in Haiti, define assets of LWF and other partners, and coordinate plans to restore daily life to those that have been affected by this tragedy.

Last Friday, we sent out an update on the situation in Haiti and how we are currently working there and in the US.  (Click here to see the full report.)  Here are a few highlights:

• 7.0 magnitude earthquake on January 12^th
• 6.1 magnitude aftershock on January 20^th
• Estimated 100,000 – 2000,000 dead
• Possible 1 million people homeless
• ELCA mobilizes $600,000 immediately for LWF, LWR and CWS
• Lutheran Services Florida Inc. receives $25,000 for emergency hardship grants
• More than $1.6 million confirmed giving received and processed

I invite you to subscribe to our blog (using the box on the right-hand side of the page), and join us to keep up-to-date on the work of the ELCA.

Keep the people of Haiti and caregivers responding to this disaster in your prayers!

God’s Peace, MB