CRC Staff Safe and Beginning Response to Hurricane Matthew
People carry their belongings as they wade across a flooded street while Hurricane Matthew passes through Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
Hurricane Matthew hit the far western tip of Haiti near the village of Les Anglais on the Tiburon Peninsula around sunrise Tuesday as a Category 4 hurricane with a 7-10- foot storm surge, 140 mph winds, and torrential rains.
“Communication is difficult or impossible in many places in the Grand Anse and Sud Department (areas) of Haiti, which received a direct hit,” said Zachary King, who serves as a Christian Reformed World Missions missionary, along with his wife, Sharon, in Haiti.
“Essentially, the effects of the hurricane are worst moving from east to west on Haiti’s southern peninsula. Much of the greater Port-au-Prince area seems to have been spared, though it is still raining very heavily and flash- flooding is an ongoing danger.”
He said they have had several inches of rain at his home in the country’s capital.
“Most of our employees have been contacted and are doing fine. There is no reason to believe that those we haven’t been able to contact are in danger.”
At the same time, he said, “Our Sous Espwa office has not sustained any significant damage and hopefully will be put to use soon.”
In Haiti, CRWM and World Renew work in conjunction with Back to God Ministries International to collaborate in ministry with Christian organizations, churches, and communities. They operate under the name, Sous Espwa, which means “source of hope.”
“I contacted several people from areas more seriously affected by Matthew,” said King. “It was difficult for me to have a conversation because of the winds, but I understood that many houses with wood trusses and tin roofs have been heavily damaged.”
World Renew, a member of the UK-based Integral Alliance, will participate in a joint assessment of the needs in the southern peninsula. As this assessment is carried out, World Renew and other members of the alliance will get a better picture of how significant the damage is and begin to plan and implement a response.
“As the response to Matthew takes shape, financial support is urgently needed to provide assistance among Haiti’s hardest hit communities,” said World Renew’s Senior Program Manager, Ken Little. Donations to “Hurricane Matthew Haiti” can be given to World Renew.
