Emergency response
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Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps
Life can change for millions of families in an instant: natural disasters can take loved ones and the outbreak of war drive families from their homes. When the unthinkable happens, Mercy Corps delivers rapid, lifesaving aid to hard-hit communities.
All stories about Emergency response
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Haiti: Organizing a food distribution January 20, 2010
I’m exhausted tonight – but triumphant! After running around all day between the general hospital and the UN compound, we’ve succeeded in organizing a distribution of food to the hospital’s patients and their families Wednesday morning.
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Haiti: Helping Haiti's kids cope January 19, 2010
Watching news coverage and listening to our team on the ground in Port-au-Prince, one heartbreaking fact keeps jumping out at me: Children are at the center of tragedy again.
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Haiti: A conversation with Bill Holbrook January 19, 2010
I spoke this afternoon with Bill Holbrook, Mercy Corps' newly appointed country director for Haiti, who leaves tomorrow for Haiti from his home in Maryland. He'll work in conjunction with our growing emergency-response team, which has been in country for nearly a week.
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Haiti: On my way to Haiti January 19, 2010
Tonight, just before midnight, I will board the first flight on my way to Haiti. As most all of us have, I've seen the shocking imagery in the press and on television, so I know how it looks.
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Haiti: Talking about our response on CNN January 19, 2010
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Haiti: Taking shelter into their own hands January 18, 2010
As people emerge from the emotional shock of losing their homes, families along the roadside are starting to take the question of shelter into their own hands.
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Haiti: Spontaneous displacement camps (8 photos) January 18, 2010
Five days after the earthquake the survivors of the quake are displaced from their homes and living in open public areas, such as parks, or in vacant lots and unused space around the city.
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Haiti: Dire conditions in spontaneous Port-au-Prince camp January 17, 2010
Today I went to an open-air camp where probably 1,000 people were living along a gravel road. They were staying out in the open and had rescued very few possessions from the rubble of their homes — maybe a blanket, one woman had a mirror, one man had a Bible ... they had incredibly little.
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Haiti: Video: Getting safe drinking water to Haiti January 17, 2010
Scarcity of safe drinking water is one of the largest challenges in post-earthquake Haiti. Through a partnership with the water treatment and transport leader ITT, we're getting five water-filtration devices to supply as many as 25,000 people with clean water.
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Haiti: Assessing Haiti's precarious water situation January 17, 2010
Today I am out visiting spontaneous camps of families displaced from their homes to determine their water situation — how much they're getting, where they're getting it, etc. — info that will be used to design our relief effort.