Devastating Earthquake Hits Haiti
More Than 100,000 Feared Dead
Urgent help is needed for the people of Haiti who yesterday experienced their strongest earthquake in over 200 years. The Red Cross reports that a third of Haiti’s nine million people may need emergency aid, with officials now fearing the dead will number more than 100,000.
Already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake flattened the president’s palace, hospitals, schools, the cathedral, the main prison and entire neighborhoods of the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The earthquake casualties include the poor and the prominent, with the Archbishop of Haiti being one of the confirmed dead. United Nations peacekeeping forces from Brazil, China and Jordan have all reported deaths in their ranks, slowing down their ability to respond to this crisis of human need.
Missions Door Response
Missions Door has had effective ministry in Haiti for many years, capably led by indigenous Haitian missionaries. Our two couples (Guillomettre & Edline Herode and Jonathan & Alexandra Joseph) and one single missionary (Francklin Alexis) are alive but shaken. Two experienced physical injuries but they will recover.
We are sending our Caribbean Ministry Coordinator, Rev. Felix Abreu, and our Vice President of Ministries for the Caribbean and Latin America, Rev. Joaquin Vargas, to Haiti this week. They will take initial relief funds for the immediate needs of food, medicine and shelter. As they come alongside our missionaries to comfort and encourage them, they will also work with our team to develop immediate and longer-term plans for assistance.
Haiti Relief Fund
A Haiti Relief Fund has been established to provide resources to assist with this devastating need. We will be partnering with CBAmerica, WorldVenture and DELTA ministries to provide a channel for churches and individuals to express Christian compassion to our brothers and sisters in Haiti, and as well to help the Christian community in Haiti reach out in compassion to their neighbors in need. In time, we will welcome the participation of teams from U.S. churches to assist in clean-up and rebuilding projects.
From New Testament times up until today, the generous response of those who follow Jesus to people in need has been a wonderful testimony of our faith and a vehicle of transformation that God has used to help those in need and draw many to saving faith in Christ.
How You Can Help
Would you prayerfully consider a special gift for our Haiti Relief Fund? You can make your contribution securely online at our website, by clicking on Donate, and then selecting Haiti Relief Fund to designate your gift. Or you can mail your gift for Haiti Relief, Project #92770R, to Missions Door, 2530 Washington Street, Denver, CO 80205-3142.
Thank you for your partnership with Missions Door. Please pray for us and our missionaries and ministry colleagues in Haiti that we will have wisdom and compassion as we develop an appropriate response plan for the devastation in Haiti.
Because Christ first loved us,
Rick Miller
President
