Published: September 11, 2008
OBI Humanitarian Aid in Flood-Ravaged Haiti
Operation Blessing International Mobilizing Medical Teams and Emergency Food Service After Stampede of Hurricanes Swamps Haiti
OBI Teams Up With humedica on Grant from German Foreign Office To Provide Humanitarian Relief
The humanitarian organization OPERATION BLESSING INTERNATIONAL (OBI) is teaming up with longtime partner, the German charity humedica to provide disaster relief to flood-ravaged Haiti. Medical teams will work with humedica leaders on the ground, circumventing logistical roadblocks such as destroyed bridges and flood-trapped makeshift camps to get first response medical aid and food to stranded survivors.
Rain from Hurricanes Gustav and Hanna drenched Haiti last week causing widespread flooding, massive mudslides and hundreds of fatalities. Monday, Hurricane Ike brought additional rains to Haiti as most cities were still submerged under water left by the previous storms, pouring salt on the wound.
Funding provided by OBI was leveraged with a grant from the German Foreign Office to provide medical teams, medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, food, and water purification tablets, primarily in the flood-trapped community of L'Estere.
Bridges are down and there is no way in or out by road. OBI-supported medical and hunger relief teams are working out of humedica's headquarters in the western city of St. Marc and must walk or float into L'Estere to serve those in need of aid.
"In addition to the daunting health needs, the stranded survivors camped out in L'Estere have not eaten for days and are trapped by surrounding floodwater. So we're also getting enough food in there to feed 5,000 people for at least 5 days as well as water purification tablets," said Bill Horan, OBI president.
"Clean drinking water is crucial. There's a big concern with widespread disease because of contaminated floodwater, so we want to pre-empt medical problems even after the waters have gone down. Ideally, we would like to set up portable purification plants, but so far, washed out roads and broken bridges have slowed that process," Horan added.
OBI has worked with humedica most recently in Darfur, operating clinics and schools in several refugee camps. The humanitarian relief organizations have a long history of partnering, including famine relief in Niger, Earthquake relief in Indonesia, flood relief in Somalia, Pakistan, Malawi and Mozambique, and Cyclone relief in Bangladesh and Burma, among others.
ABOUT OPERATION BLESSING INTERNATIONAL
Operation Blessing International (OBI) is one of the largest charities in America, providing strategic disaster relief, medical aid, hunger relief, clean water and community development in 22 countries around the world on a daily basis. In 2007, OBI responded to a record 20 disasters in 14 countries. Most recently, OBI mobilized teams and funded major relief and recovery efforts in Myanmar, the Sichuan Province of China, Rift Valley in Kenya, Bangladesh, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, the Darfur region of Sudan, Pakistan, Somalia, India, Indonesia, Mozambique and the Philippines. In recent years, OBI has also made headlines as a first responder to U.S. hurricanes, floods and tornados as well as the tsunami disaster in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.
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