Haiti Relief Project Update – March 19, 2010

With the generous support of Pacific Domes and hundreds of other donors, World Shelters was able to ship 7,000 square feet of shelter to Haiti last month to meet the expressed needs of Doctors without Borders (Medicins san Frontieres- MSF) and Hopital Adventiste / ACTS World Relief.

All relief agencies working in support of Haiti have experienced daunting logistical challenges, including the very complex issue of land clearance. World Shelters’ shipment for Doctors without Borders is currently in Haiti awaiting site clearance. The shipment for ACTS World Relief is currently in Florida awaiting transport to Haiti. For more information on the difficulties of land clearance and logistics within Haiti, please see this Associated Press article.

Due to these issues, the World Shelters team has not yet departed for Haiti. As soon as our partner agencies have resolved the issues of land clearance for these installations, we will send our team to erect these structures. The rainy season typically begins on April 1 and we want to provide these facilities as soon as possible. We are working closely with our partnering agencies in order to obtain the necessary land clearance and complete these projects for medical installations as expeditiously as possible.

World Shelters has submitted proposals for over 20,000 family shelters in response to multiple agencies’ requests for proposals. Currently little to no land in Haiti is available for siting any of these projects.

As new developments arise, we will be updating the World Shelters website with this new information.