Brethren Disaster Ministries directs $75,000 grant to Sandy relief in Haiti.

Photo by Ilexene Alphonse

One of the homes in Marin, Haiti, destroyed by Hurricane Sandy and the flooding that the storm caused when it hit the Caribbean island nation last year. Shown here, Haitian Brethren leaders assess the damage after the storm.

Brethren Disaster Ministries has directed a grant of $75,000 from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to assist L’Eglise des Freres Haitiens (the Church of the Brethren in Haiti) to rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

The damaged homes are in Marin, Haiti. The work to rebuild them follows severe flooding brought to the region in October 2012 by Hurricane Sandy, which went on to affect the northeast coast of the US where it was known as Superstorm Sandy.

“Haiti was still recovering from the 2010 earthquake when Hurricane Sandy brought four days of rain in late October 2012,” said the grant request. “The resulting severe flooding left an estimated 200,000 Haitians homeless, caused 104 deaths, blocked infrastructure/roads, caused loss of livestock, and severe damage to agricultural fields. This led to even more food insecurity and a reignited cholera epidemic in a country with widespread poverty and hunger.”

The Haitian Brethren formally requested assistance for the community of Marin, where approximately 10 percent of families lost their homes in the flooding. Rather than starting a new Brethren Disaster Ministries project in Haiti, staff have requested this grant for a Haitian-led response to the disaster.

The funds management and construction leadership will come from the Haitian Church of the Brethren, with oversight and monitoring from Brethren Disaster Ministries. To help support this response, give to the Emergency Disaster Fund at www.brethren.org/edf.

Source: 8/8/2013 Newsline