For Immediate Release
January 18, 2010
Witnesses’ relief efforts well under way for victims of earthquake in Haiti
NEW YORK—Jehovah’s Witnesses are actively providing local and international assistance for victims of the massive earthquake that struck Haiti on the evening of January 12, 2010.
In cooperation with local authorities and other relief agencies, the Witnesses organized to help meet the immediate needs of their fellow worshippers and other victims in Haiti and care for them. The Witnesses’ branch office in the Dominican Republic quickly sent six tons of food and medical supplies to the branch office in Haiti. These supplies were received the morning after the disaster. Witnesses at the Haiti branch office then prepared 700 bags with basic necessities. These bags, weighing 10 kilograms (just over 22 pounds) each and providing 2,800 meals, were transported to Kingdom Halls of Jehovah’s Witnesses that were designated as relief distribution centers. From the first shipment, three-day rations were distributed to 4,700 people. This was followed by twice-daily shipments of relief materials, including boxes of clothing.
Arrangements were also made to send fellow Witnesses who are medical professionals from the Dominican Republic to Haiti to assist in rendering urgently needed care. An Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses remained intact after the quake and is now serving as a temporary clinic and medical center for the injured. Three different Kingdom Halls in the affected area are being used similarly, with local Haitian Witnesses who are doctors providing medical attention. At these makeshift facilities, efforts are made to stabilize the patients’ condition. However, if the injuries are so severe that the patient needs a procedure that would use equipment and/or medication beyond what the Witnesses have on hand, arrangements are made to transport such a critical care patient to nearby hospitals. Initially, 12 Witnesses were transported to a hospital in Jimaní, Dominican Republic, near the border with Haiti. Critical care patients are now being taken to a hospital farther away, in Barahona, Dominican Republic, approximately 50 miles from the border. The Witnesses’ assistance in caring for the medical needs of their fellow worshippers and others is proving to be valuable, since several hospitals in Haiti were destroyed by the quake and the remaining area hospitals are overwhelmed. Two teams of Jehovah’s Witnesses who are medical professionals from France, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States volunteered to travel to Haiti and to work directly with the relief efforts that the branch offices in Haiti and the Dominican Republic are coordinating. These teams are expected to arrive by Tuesday, January 19.
There are an estimated 10,000 of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the disaster area. Sadly, the latest reports from the Haiti branch office confirm that the death toll among the Witnesses now stands at 103, and that number is expected to rise as more reports are received. The Witnesses continue coordinating their international relief efforts from their world headquarters in Brooklyn. The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses is caring for these expenses by utilizing funds donated to the Witnesses’ worldwide work.
Media contact: J. R. Brown, telephone: (718) 560-5600