Devastating hurricane hits Haiti with brute force

On 4 October this year Hurricane Matthew hit the southwest of Haiti with a velocity of over 225 km/h. The people were helpless and almost completely unprepared in the face of this natural catastrophe. This poor country was only just recovering from the strong earthquake in 2010, which claimed the lives of 250,000 people and made over 1.3 million homeless. A subsequent cholera epidemic and Hurricane Sandy in 2012 have only further deepened the crisis and made people highly dependent on outside help and support. This time, the departments Grand’Anse and Sud were most affected, as tidal waves and landslides threatened the lives of over one million people. Again there were many fatalities and the breakout of epidemics is possible. The groundwater is contaminated and houses, bridges and roads are destroyed.

Naturally, the Margarete Müller-Bull Foundation came promptly to the fore with a cash donation to ease the suffering of the most afflicted. In cooperation with Brot für die Welt, the relief agency of the Protestant churches in Germany, and in direct coordination with the agency’s local offices in Port-au-Prince, we were able to allocate the donation wisely. It was used to acquire so-called “hygiene kits” for families, to help fight any renewed outbreak of cholera or other life-threatening diseases. We are following the developments in this region of crisis closely and will continue to report.