In the past week, southern Haiti experienced extensive flooding, followed by a 4.9 magnitude earthquake, killing dozens of people and displacing thousands. Many of our friends and partners have asked if and how these events have affected Borgne—the area in northern Haiti where H.O.P.E. works. Fortunately, Borgne was not affected; H.O.P.E.’s hospital and programs continue to operate, and the team in Borgne continue to do good work.
Haiti is an earthquake-prone country, and heavy rains fueled by tropical systems and hurricanes are common. Borgne is not isolated from such disasters, and lies within a major fault zone in the north of the country. For this reason, H.O.P.E/ASB, with the help of funding from Haiti Renewal Alliance (HRA), has been training and conducting disaster simulation exercises for the past year.
As a winner of the HRA/USAID Investor Tank competition, H.O.P.E/ASB received funding for extensive disaster relief and recovery training. A Haiti-based organization, AGERCA, (english version)conducted the training, which focusses on developing staff capacity in disaster communications, disaster planning, community response, recovery, and resilience. The training complements the decentralized capillary model of community health that is at the core of all our programs. Community health agents, and community outreach workers are trained in how to best respond and recover from disasters.
If and when such events or emergencies—flooding, earthquakes, other natural disasters, disease outbreaks, etc.-- occur in Borgne, H.O.P.E.’s team in Borgne is prepared, and works to prepare the community, for instance conducting outreach and education, and holding community meetings, informing community members of potential risks, preparing and readying the emergency room staff, and distributing supplies.
We are grateful to HRA, USAID, AGERCA for their support in making Borgne a safer, more resilient place--and for all of our friends and partners who have supported H.O.P.E.’s community health efforts over the years.