A member of the Assessment Team in Haiti wrote:
“Today has been a long day for our team. Starting around 8 am we visited a Dutch Factory that is starting a new line of pre-fab homes that can be built for the earthquake homeless. By Haitian standards these homes will be a great new home for them. For $2000 each these homes offer a new future beyond the temporary shelters they now are living in. It has been raining the last two days here and one thinks of the thousands living in tents or makeshift shelters of grain sacks or tin sheets they’ve been able to find.
”From that meeting, we loaded up in John Ackerman’s truck and headed for the epicenter. The devastation is as awful as you’ve seen on television. We estimated 95 to 98% of all the permanent structures have been lost. Homes, businesses, a college, schools, and resorts are all rubble! What a contrast this destruction is against the lovely backdrop of the mountains on one side of the coastal highway and the Caribbean Ocean on the other side. We are not aware of any Church of God congregations in this area, but you have to go through the epicenter to reach the two areas where we do have churches.
”Leaving the epicenter and coastal highway we turned south and drove up the mountain range headed towards Jacmel on the southern coast of the south peninsula of Haiti. How beautiful the drive over the cool mountain pass. Yet, along the way was devastation from the earthquake including some destruction to the road as well. We do have churches in this region and realized why it has been hard to make contact with them. Future work-camps going to this region will need to be prepared for rugged and chilly conditions. The winding highway led us all the way to Jacmel, a beautiful coastal city that houses many artists from the island. The damage was not as extensive here where we do have churches, nevertheless, between 10 or 20% of the structures have been destroyed. At Jacmel we had our MRE (military instant dinners) while sitting on the beautiful southern beach. Several of the children of this area came up to us with their beautiful smiles and inquisitive natures. We were reminded by them how God loves all the people of the world and favors children, the poor, the widows and orphans. It is unto the least of these by worldly economics that we will be reaching in our relief efforts. They are our brothers and sisters in the Lord in this family we call ‘The Church of God.’”
[caption id="attachment_320" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Graffiti of Map of Haiti crying"]
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[caption id="attachment_314" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Tents along side of street"]
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[caption id="attachment_315" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="4 story home collapsed"]
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[caption id="attachment_316" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="4 story building collapsed"]
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[caption id="attachment_317" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="car in ruble"]
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[caption id="attachment_318" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Ex-Homes on Side of Mountain"]
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[caption id="attachment_319" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="AC Tents at QCS"]
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