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Haiti
Earth Quake – BPC Cares Disaster Relief Program
 January 12th
2010 Haiti’s capital Port au Prince and the Southern port city of Jacmel
and other localities were devastated by a magnitude 7 earthquake. It is currently estimated up to 100,000
people have been killed. There are
many still trapped, more injured in need of lifesaving medical help and
many more survivors that are thirsty and hungry. Most have been left with nothing, many
people have lost loved ones to this horrific act of nature. Haiti was one of the poorest nations in
the Western hemisphere and is going to need vast resources to rebuild over
many years.
Over 50% of the population was under the age of 18
before the disaster 40% under 14, so it’s no surprise that a lot of the
victims are children. Many children
have lost family members. A lot are
separated or have lost oall of their immediate family and are wandering the
streets. Unaccompanied children are especially
vulnerable to disease, malnutrition and exploitation, including trafficking
and need urgent assistance as well as, in many cases, long term support.
Unaccompanied children need to find safe places with shelter,
food, water and medicines with make-shift schools and recreation areas. This is clearly a children's emergency,
and the need for support and protection, registration and family tracing is
widespread.
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