EMpower expresses solidarity with Chilean and Haitian communities affected by recent quakes

EMpower extends our sympathy to the victims, families and communities affected by the devastating earth quakes in both Haiti and Chile. See more below on those disasters.

EMpower does not have grantee partners in either Chile or Haiti. For those who want to directly support reconstruction efforts in either country that go beyond immediate relief, we can recommend several organizations that are well known to us but are not necessarily in the public eye. Each of these is already established and highly effective and will be involved in long-term reconstruction efforts in each country.  

SUPPORTING LOCAL RECONSTRUCTION IN CHILE:

• NESsT develops and supports social enterprises and has a strong base in Chile. It has established a reconstruction fund. Click here to visit their website, which also includes information on making donations to the fund through the US and Chile.
• Global Greengrants: Chilean Disaster Recovery Fund will provide small grants to rebuild sustainable livelihoods, recuperating natural resources, and ensure voices of affected communities in decision-making processes. Click here.

SUPPORTING LOCAL RECONSTRUCTION IN HAITI:

• Partners in Health has been working on the ground in Haiti for over 20 years caring for patients and alleviating the root causes of disease in their communities. Click here.
• American Jewish World Service is supporting the reconstruction of roads, community centers, clinics and schools, and the replanting of crops and farms, especially focusing on populations in crisis that have not already been targeted for large-scale relief, such as poor and rural areas outside Port-au-Prince. Click here.
• The Lambi Fund channels financial and other resources to community-based organizations that promote the social and economic empowerment of the Haitian people. Click here.

On February 27, Chile’s earthquake—at 8.8-magnitude, one of the strongest on record—left hundreds dead and displaced an estimated 1.5 million people. It caused massive devastation, destroying homes, hospitals, highways and basic infrastructure as far away as Santiago, 200 miles north of the earthquake’s epicenter.  

Haiti’s earthquake on January 12 was also one of the worst in recorded history. While the full toll of those affected is not known, the devastation was massive: more than 230,000 people died, 300,000 were injured, and an estimated 1 million made homeless. The quake leveled most of the buildings and critical infrastructure in the capital, Port au Prince, and surrounding areas. In the New York Times, aid agencies described the catastrophe as “more difficult to manage than famine in Africa or the tsunami in Asia. Rarely if ever, they say, has a natural disaster so ravaged the crowded capital of an already poor country, devastating both the government and the international agencies that usually step in.”

We are heartened by the outpouring of concern and support internationally, as well as the resilience and determination to rebuild demonstrated by Haitians and Chileans. We also know that although major disasters eventually disappear from the headlines, the need to support local organizations goes on. Such organizations provide critical support to families coping with the crises, and will help reconstruct housing, infrastructure and livelihoods for years to come. Local groups—the mainstays of community support before and after the relief agencies leave—will be key to the rebuilding process, and their presence ensures that local communities will have a say in decisions about their own futures.