For Immediate Release
January 28, 2010
(Russian)
Witnesses’ relief efforts in Haiti continue
NEW YORK—In the two weeks following the devastating earthquake that paralyzed the small island nation of Haiti, Jehovah’s Witnesses have been maintaining the intensity of their efforts to render assistance.
Victims were still reeling from the magnitude 7.0 quake that occurred on January 12 when they were further traumatized by a powerful aftershock with a magnitude of 6.1 that struck a village west of Port-au-Prince on Wednesday, January 20. That evening, a group of 12 Witness volunteers from France—including four general practitioners, two surgeons, four nurses, and a midwife—arrived at the Haiti branch office via the Dominican Republic to join the relief effort. Another group of 12 French-speaking Witnesses from Guadeloupe also arrived, adding eight nurses and four other medical professionals. These groups brought 5,000 pounds of medicine and equipment, enabling them to begin assisting victims immediately.
The Witnesses’ branch office in the Dominican Republic continues to send truck shipments of food and medicine. Every two days, 30,000 pounds of supplies are provided in caravans of three or four trucks. As of January 25, the Dominican Republic branch has sent 70 tons of food and medical equipment to Haiti. Another 15 tons (including a shipment of tents) were sent in the early morning hours of January 26. All the volunteers are focusing on the still urgent need to care for the wounded.
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Haiti are comforted and strengthened by the loving concern shown by their fellow worshippers around the world. The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses is coordinating these international relief efforts from the Witnesses’ world headquarters in Brooklyn.
Media contact: J. R. Brown, telephone: (718) 560-5600