Haiti: PWJ Launches Hurricane Matthew Emergency Relief Mission

On October 4th, Category 4 Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti and went through other Caribbean nations, taking many lives and leaving enormous damages to houses and livelihoods. Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) is sending staff to start a new disaster response and relief operation in Haiti.

PWJ have been gathering information from our former local staff when we operated an emergency relief operation in Haiti after the earthquake in 2010. According to the information shared from the field, areas such as Sud and Grand’Anse States in southern Haiti have been severely suffered by the hurricane. The United Nations survey shows that 90% of the houses have collapsed in the hurricane affected areas, and 1.4 million people are in need of humanitarian relief. Many of the roads are also closed, and we expect to see additional damage in these isolated areas.

As soon as our staff arrive in Haiti on October 21st, they will begin assessment of the hurricane hit regions, and we plan to distribute emergency relief items to those in need of immediate assistance in southern Haiti.

PWJ plans to continue monitoring the disaster hit areas, and provide additional disaster relief operations.