As The Baptist Courier went to press, South Carolina Disaster Relief (SCDR) officials were among several Southern Baptist disaster response teams mobilizing to assess relief needs after the largest earthquake in more than 200 years rocked Haiti the evening of Jan. 12.
The initial Southern Baptist disaster relief effort will be led by Florida Baptists, who have had ministry relationships in Haiti for more than 20 years and currently have seven Haitian staff members who live and work in the country, said Jim Brown, U.S. director for Baptist Global Response (BGR). The Southern Baptist International Mission Board does not have long-term personnel stationed in the country.
The North American Mission Board (NAMB)’s disaster relief office is organizing an emergency consultation with state disaster relief directors to coordinate response to the catastrophe, Brown said. Disaster relief teams in Mississippi and Kentucky are on standby for immediate response.
An assessment team is being organized by the International Mission Board, North American Mission Board and state convention disaster relief directors to enter the country as soon as possible, Brown said. They will work with Haitian Baptists to identify immediate needs that must be addressed and will draft mid- and long-term plans for an ongoing relief effort.
Cliff Satterwhite, director of the disaster relief group of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, has been coordinating SCDR’s initial response through conference calls with BGR and the NAMB. He said it may be several days before the BGR assessment team can get into the country to determine short-term needs.
Satterwhite said the relief operation in Haiti will be “fluid” over the next two weeks. “At the present time, there is no need for volunteers to go until we assess the needs,” Satterwhite said. He said a decision on the possible deployment of an SCDR medical team to Haiti will be made after the assessment team reports back Jan. 22. An SCDR medical team physician will accompany the assessment team, he said.
In the meantime, Satterwhite said, South Carolina Baptists can be most effective in aiding victims by giving dollars. “Money will be the key,” he said. (To donate through South Carolina Disaster Relief, designate check for “Haiti Earthquake Victims” and send to: Disaster Relief, SCBC, 190 Stoneridge Drive, Columbia, S.C., 29210-8254, or call 800-723-7242.)
Satterwhite said “100 percent” of donations received through SCDR will go directly to relief for victims. He added that people should not send clothing or food. “It would cost more to send them than they are worth,” he said.
The 7.0-magnitude tremor hit 10 miles from the center of Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital with a population of 3 million, at around 5 p.m. Jan. 12. One source said the quake could be felt more than 200 miles away.
Multiple strong aftershocks continued to rock the country after the initial tremor, said David Brown, who with his wife Jo directs Baptist Global Response work in the Americas.
Apart from donating to the disaster relief fund, concerned individuals can help greatly by joining in focused prayer for Haiti’s 9 million people, more than 80 percent of whom live below the poverty line, David Brown said.
“Please pray for us as we assess and monitor the situation in Haiti,” Brown said. “The initial information indicates 2 million people in Port-au-Prince are directly affected. Please pray for victims and their families. Pray for wisdom as responses are initiated.”
– Combined reporting from Mark Kelly, assistant editor of Baptist Press, and Butch Blume, managing editor of The Baptist Courier.