UPDATE WEDNESDAY January 20, 2010

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2010/01/20/intv.krabacher.orphan.aid.cnn

Approximately 12 hours ago another aftershock struck Haiti with nearly as much force as the first earthquake.  The aftershock rated 6.1 on the Richter scale, whereas the earthquake eight days ago was 7.0 on the Richter scale. The damage was not as extensive, primarily because there is not much left to destroy. Rubble was shaken from already damaged buildings, and people were panicking and running through the streets again.

Unfortunately the death toll continues to mount.  We received confirmation that one of our doctors was killed in the earthquake.  We lost one of our best physical therapists.  Three children were killed outside the Cite de Soliel project, and a number or caregivers or “mothers” as we call them, have been confirmed to have been killed.

The 4-person security team that we have coming into the country should arrive on Friday, we arranged for the purchase of two trucks in the Dominican Republic. We did receive disturbing misinformation from the officials at the public hospital (where we have the abandoned baby unit) that was reported to you several days ago.  We had been told, and reported, the children had been removed successfully and placed in an undisclosed location.  It turns out that information is incorrect and probably falsified, because at a meeting today at the public hospital the stories of the officials were inconsistent, and no one could or would actually confirm the “undisclosed” location.  We fear the worse, but pray for best for the 32 children who were there before the earthquake.  We apologize for that. With communications as poor as they are mistakes will happen.

We have begun the process of trying to restore security at the Cazeau project.  The plan is to move the office there in one of the buildings that was not damaged, but we need to rebuild the walls and will need to bring in security because we will use that area as a staging point for distribution of relief supplies.  

We have a number of needs for the Cazeau operations, including diesel generator, three laptop computers (new not used), funding for the installation of satellite Internet communications, an inverter system (which is used to charge batteries to run power so we do not have two run generators all the time), and we needed car or other transportation for the office staff. Mde Chenet will be working there, she is recovering from the shock of witnessing the earthquake, but told Susie: “We are sisters and will not quit as long as we have legs.”

We have had five 40’ shipping containers donated that have been converted to mobile medical clinics and we can make them operational. We need to raise the funds for the shipping costs to get them to Port-au-Prince as soon as possible.  Shipping changes on almost a daily basis, currently the best route seems to be to deliver them to the port in Saint Marc and drive overland to Port-au-Prince.  These mobile medical clinics can function anywhere once they are supplied and staffed. In the meantime, we are going to be removing the mobile medical clinic from the Williamson project, because we have minimal injuries and most have been accommodated, and move it into Port-au-Prince where they are desperately short on medical care.

Through another one of our  friends we had received a full-size nearly new ambulance, and we are redeploying it into Port-au-Prince to assist in the medical and relief efforts.

Everyone at Mercy and Sharing sends their love and thanks you for your generous support.Together have accomplished an incredible amount of work in the past eight days, but we know that the efforts will continue for years as Haiti attempts to rebuild its infrastructure and hopefully embarks on a new direction.