Earthquake Response – Part 1

Earthquake Response – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

by The Haiti Project

On January 12, 2010, the already-impoverished nation of Haiti was struck by a catastrophic 7.0 earthquake and several sizable aftershocks. As many as 3 million people have been affected and the death toll is already in the hundreds of thousands and climbing daily. The capitol city of Port-Au-Prince, just 14 miles from the epicenter of the quake, now lies in ruins and its survivors in despair.

The Haiti Project Team immediately burst into a frenzy of phone calls, text messages, prayers, and tears as we became overwhelmed with the immediate urgency to get to Haiti to help and be physically present alongside our Haitian brothers and sisters. However, as events unfolded, it became clear that an immediate relief visit was a logistical impossibility. Still under great urgency, we set forth to do everything possible to mobilize efforts here at home.

We were able to get in touch with Bill Dawson and Frantz via cell phone in Port-au-Prince just 13 hours after the quake struck. We were able to take a small sigh of relief at that point, as they explained that they and our friends at the Seminary were all safe. We also ascertained that the area we visited in November, Cathor Bayonnais, and the church we built we were safe and sound. However, we were heartbroken to hear a firsthand account from our dear brothers, Dr. Dawson and Frantz, as they detailed the horrendous realities before them in the capitol city.

On Wednesday, January 13, just 24 hours after the quake, the ABC and NBC network stations had called us to do a live interview with Haiti Project team members at Olive Knolls Church in Bakersfield. Following the airing of those interviews on the nightly news, the church phones began ringing off the hook with support from the community. We began collecting monetary contributions for ncm.org and taking donations of medical supplies for a potential medical team, to be led by Dr. James Rosbrugh.

By Friday, January 15, we had received a list of relief items needed from Nazarene Compassionate Ministries and created an Amazon.com store with those items to be shipped directly to the shipping container in Miami, Florida. We immediately began actively publicizing this Amazon store on websites and across the District and elsewhere. We have received a wonderful response. We were also contacted by Univision channel in Bakersfield for another television interview. Our fellow Haiti Project team members in Atwater, Revs. Dustin and Olivia Metcalf, were contacted for a television interview on a local Fresno station as well that same day.

Another major development took place on Friday, when we were asked to assist Nazarene Compassionate Ministries with the location of a concrete block machine capable of making 8-inch blocks, diesel-powered, in the Miami, Florida area. We were informed that this machine is vital to securing the exterior walls of the Nazarene Theological Seminary in Petion-ville, which would allow Nazarene medical teams to come in, as well as allow World Vision to use the campus as a distribution center for relief aid.  The securing of this one piece of machinery was the missing link in setting relief efforts in motion at the seminary and in the Petion-ville area.

Before the close of business in Miami on Friday of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, we were able to locate a concrete block machine that met the specifications provided to us from NCM. NCM was able to purchase this item that same day, to be delivered after the holiday weekend. The typical length of time needed to purchase and deliver a concrete block machine is 4-8 weeks. Truly a miracle!

However, now an even larger obstacle lay ahead of us. How would we transport a 1200 pound piece of machinery from Miami, Florida into Port-au-Prince, Haiti in a matter of days? We started praying and searching for jets and cargo planes that could carry such a large piece of equipment.

Read Part 2