Live updates from our team in the field.

The earthquake has left the roads so badly damaged that as of today, our team has still not been able get through to visit them in person. However, because COFHED’s model has promoted self-sufficient community engagement, the villagers themselves have wasted no time in organizing their own thorough assessments and tabulating the damage.  

This is reporting from the communities of Lougou, Marc, Raymond, Guillaume, Duvezin, Gandou, Navarre, all from the Camp-Perrin region in which we work, as of August 19.

• 1,611 total families, totaling 6,935 individuals, were affected by the disaster

• 55 people were killed

• 339 people were injured

• 1,064 homes destroyed, 277 heavily damaged

• 5 people are still missing

• 1 school was damaged, and 8 were destroyed

• 16 churches were destroyed

• Lougou’s medical clinic and suspension bridge, a major thoroughfare for travelers, was heavily damaged

  • 18 goats, 15 sheep, 18 cows dead in Lougou

While impassible roads have continued to hamper the COFHED team’s ability to conduct in-person assessments of our partner communities, the people of Raymond have come together to investigate and catalogue the damage to themselves.

A majority of the buildings in the community have some level of damage, and the school and church buildings have been leveled. The newly-homeless are still scrambling to find temporary shelter, which makes our fundraising efforts to get essential materials like tarp and wood even more essential.

If there’s one reason for gratitude, it’s that the torrential rains and high winds of Tropical Storm Grace are gone and today the sun shone brightly across the Camp-Perrin region, drying out the flooded land.

Please continue to keep the people of southern Haiti in your prayers, and consider contributing to our relief campaign.

Tropical Storm Grace made a direct hit on the Camp-Perrin region last night, and with it came torrential rains and high winds which wreaked havoc on the temporary shelters that tens of thousands of newly-homeless Haitians had erected. Aftershocks have continued at a steady rate, sending people running outside in fear.

The devastation from the earthquake and the flooding rains have continued to render the roads impassible, meaning the COFHED team has not officially conducted an assessment of our partner communities. The hope is that they’ll be able to in the coming days. We’ve heard that the communities themselves are already coming together to hold their own assessments, tabulating death tolls and identifying needs, which will give COFHED a leg up on the important work of recovery.

Nurse Mislène, Lougou’s resident medical liaison, has gone door-to-door to check on the wellbeing and health of each family and to stave off disease brought on by exposure to the elements and fatigue.

Nick has arrived safely in Camp-Perrin and is grateful to each supporter for their prayers.

However, the situation in the area is grim. Aftershocks continue to rock the region, leading to anxiety over more collapses and destruction. Bodies are being pulled from the rubble as more and more families mourn the loss of friends, family and loved ones. Amidst the sadness, newly homeless people are scrambling to find shelter with the approach of Tropical Storm Grace, which is slated to make landfall and a direct hit on Camp-Perrin.

Incredibly, the massive Saut-Mathurine waterfall, a national landmark near the COFHED headquarters, simply ceased to exist and its normally roaring, crystal-clear flow was crushed by collapsing mountains.

Please continue to pray for Haiti and our team.

Over 24 hours have passed since the magnitude 7.2 earthquake shook our home region of Camp-Perrin, but the peril has just begun. The region has been experiencing strong aftershocks, which have caused additional damage and hampered rescue efforts. Our team has done an initial assessment of the situation and want to pass this information along so you can hold the nation of Haiti and the communities we serve in your prayers.

Our team and property: The CEC, which also serves as our headquarters, was designed to withstand natural disasters, and sustained only minor interior damage. However, the exterior security barrier around the property has collapsed in several places. Because of the continued tremors, Madeleine and those staying at the CEC have opted to sleep outside for their safety.

Fortunately, every member of the COFHED team is accounted for and everyone is unharmed, though many have sustained significant damage to their properties and one team member’s home was completely destroyed.

The communities: The greater Camp-Perrin region, which is home to the communities that we serve, was at the epicenter of the quake and suffered widespread damage. In Marc, Raymond and Lougou, there are dozens of fatalities, with more likely to come as people are still stuck under the rubble. Others who were harvesting beans in the mountains at the time of the quake are missing and feared dead from huge landslides – the communities have sent out search parties to find them. Le Petit Academie de Lougou collapsed and other major structures are down. 

The greater region: Beyond Camp-Perrin, the nearby city of Les Cayes was also battered by the earthquake and hundreds of people have lost their lives, with more fatalities being reported by the hour. Major roads and bridges have been blocked by downed trees, rubble and landslides, making travel and relief difficult.

What’s ahead: As Haiti awaits a large humanitarian response from the government and international community, Tropical Storm Grace is slated to hit Haiti as early as Monday. Its high winds and heavy rains threaten to pummel the already devastated area and is a major source of concern for the communities. That, plus the specter of homelessness and food insecurity, threaten to deepen the crisis caused by the quake.

Nick is en route to join Madeleine in Haiti to begin the relief efforts in our partner communities. 

Please continue to keep our team, the communities we serve and the nation of Haiti in your thoughts and prayers.

This morning a major magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Haiti, just north Saint-Louis-du-Sud at a depth of 13 kilometers beneath the earth. Shortly after, a second magnitude 5.2 earthquake hit Camp-Perrin, where COFHED is based, directly. For context, the devastating 2010 earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince and killed 250,000 people was magnitude 7. 

Nick and other COFHED board members in the U.S. were able to reach Madeleine who was at the community engagement center at the time of the quake, and she is unharmed. However, there’s some  damage to parts of the infrastructure of the COFHED compound. Initial reports are of mass destruction and fatalities in the region. Strong aftershocks have continued to rumble through the area, so the team is taking every precaution for their safety.  Please pray that the aftershocks will cease and for support to begin to arrive.  

We will provide additional updates as we have them. Please keep the nation of Haiti in your thoughts and prayers.