With years of political instability, over half the population were already living on less than $1 (around 70p) per day. A third of children suffered chronic malnutrition – one of the highest rates in the world. With schools, hospitals and homes all destroyed and having to be rebuilt, hope for Haiti’s already uncertain future was severely set back by the earthquake.

Islamic Relief in Haiti

Islamic Relief began working in Haiti in the days after the earthquake, delivering emergency aid to survivors. Eleven days after the earthquake, we had set up the first of our three camps, providing much needed shelter to homeless families. Each of these included water and sanitation facilities, like toilets, showers and drainage systems, food and water distributions, hygiene kits, and essential survival items like blankets and kitchen sets to prepare meals.

Our extensive $10.5 million programme covered more than just immediate response however – as we began working to help rebuild the many buildings that were destroyed, including three schools for over 2,500 students and new homes for 800 families. In addition to this we provided vocational training to help people develop skills to find new jobs, and continued to support over 1,000 families living in Islamic Relief camps.