The Children of Haiti

Nearly two weeks after an earthquake struck Haiti, marking the start of a long and arduous relief and recovery effort, an estimated 1 million children have been affected, including tens of thousands of children who are now homeless.

Like we have learned in disasters from the tsunami in Southeast Asia to Hurricane Katrina, children are among the most vulnerable in any emergency but their needs are often forgotten.

Right now, Haitian children in the disaster zone are desperately in need of food, water and medical attention, and many have yet to be reunited with their families. Of course, complicating the relief effort is that the quake struck the capital city of Port-au-Prince -- where the people, institutions and systems that would normally respond to a disaster were lost or dramatically affected, making it even harder to deliver aid to those who need it most.

Despite these challenges, with the support of government, local partner relief agencies and communities, Save the Children is working to bring urgently needed food and water, medical aid, shelter and supplies to children and families in Haiti.

Save the Children has been working in Haiti since 1978, and our presence in the country allowed us to act quickly. We are working closely with UNICEF and the Haitian Government to reunite children with their loved ones and protect them during this precarious time.

And the need for children is urgent.

•Save the Children has three mobile clinics that are fully operational, two in Leogane and one in Jacmel, as well as teams of doctors and nurses, working to meet the urgent health needs in the disaster zone. We have delivered medicine and supplies to hospitals and clinics in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and Leogane. So far we have reached more than 90,000 children through our health and nutrition response.

•We have set up 11 safe, secure places for children to play and recover in shelters in Port-au-Prince and Jacmel and will open more of these spaces in the days to come.

•We are beginning to collect information and reports of separated and unaccompanied children to help reunite them with their families.

•We are distributing water, high-energy foods and hygiene kits to children and families with the help of local community leaders.

•We've distributed food for 2,000 people at the L'Hopital de l'Espoire, a children's hospital that helps support two orphanages.

•More clean water for residents will soon be arriving by tanker trucks. We are also constructing latrines to prevent water contamination and distributing hygiene kits to help prevent the spread of diseases.

•We will continue to provide relief and help support recovery over the long term, and we hope that you can help by supporting our work at http://www.savethechildren.org.

•Just as important as providing aid to Haiti, we must make sure that the lessons from this disaster do not remain unlearned.

•Indeed, the tragic loss of life and suffering we are witnessing is unacceptable, and a similar situation would be equally unacceptable in the United States or anywhere in the world. Still, a recent report from Save the Children's U.S. Programs found that only seven states meets four basic requirements for protecting children in schools or child care facilities during disasters.

So the Haitian crisis is not just a call for generosity but also a call to action.

We know that another major disaster is on the horizon. So now is the time to ensure that comprehensive disaster planning -- that protects every man, women and child -- is a national and global priority.
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Haitian children and families remain in urgent need following the epic earthquake on January 12. Your donation to Save the Children will help us provide urgently needed medical attention, food, safe drinking water and other supplies. You will also help support Save the Children's commitment to address longer-term needs of children and families -- education, shelter, health care, water and sanitation and livelihoods -- as they recover from Haiti's worst disaster in over 200 years.