Mercy Ships Activates Response to Haiti

January 14, 2010

Mercy Ships Activates Response to Haiti

Assessing the Greatest Need

To donate to Haitian relief, click here.

Garden Valley, Texas, January 14, 2009-

Mercy Ships has mobilized its Disaster Response Team to address the destruction that has occurred in Haiti. This Team has been designed to assess and activate Mercy Ships volunteers and assets to address specific need in relation to medical and nonmedical issues. The execution of our Disaster Response will continue for many months and possibly years to address all that has happened to the people of Haiti.

This is consistent with our focus of providing sustainable relief to the areas we are serving with the assurance of local partners that can keep the relief effort continuing long after the Teams have returned back to their homes. A good example of this is during the Tsunami tragedies in Indonesia where we had teams that dealt with medical relief, but also had teams come in after the initial clean up to help to re-establish the local fishing industry. Because Mercy Ships is not structured to be a first responder agency, they will not normally engage in activities typically associated with search and rescue or ‘immediate response’ efforts.

In relation to specific Haitian Teams, the decision to mobilize teams will be an evolving process as we seek to address the needs of our partners on the ground.  These teams will be both medical and nonmedical and mobilized in relation to skills needed and the partner’s ability to support and sustain the program. Mobilization may occur within days, while other teams may be asked to serve in the months ahead.  The nature of the destruction will cause this process to be quite the logistical challenge for our Disaster Response Team and the patience of our volunteers is much appreciated.

We have an immediate need of funding to support the mobilization of these teams.  We also need volunteers to supply their contact information with the skills that they can offer.  Teams will be formed in the future based off the volunteer database and specific needs for the specific program.

Mercy Ships operates the entire organization under the same premise whether it is with our ships or with our Mercy Teams.  We have very set procedures that allow for maximum benefit from every donation and skill from our volunteers.  The nature of any disaster is for immediate response to cure all that is wrong.  Our focus is to respond quickly, but in a manner that ensures long term success at delivering hope and healing to those that have been affected by the tragedy.  Our organization has not been designed to come and help and just leave.  We want to be able to bring forth aid, but also help to build for a sustainable future

Many are already following the fluid updates on the Mercy Ships’ website at www.mercyships.org .

 

Haiti Updates: January 22, 2010

Mercy Ships personnel were asked to help the U.S. Coast Guard today guide a Medical Team through the substantial maze of rubble and destruction to bring aid to an area that was in desperate need of help.  The operation went so well that the team has been asked to rendezvous with the Coast Guard again on Saturday at their warehouse facilities to help get aid into areas that we had been working.

The supply channels are so difficult and people need help immediately.  It is a tremendous accomplishment for our team to take the supply issue in their own hands and partner with U.S. Coast Guard heroes to bring hope and healing to those that had all but given up.