Nikenson Fabre, Copyright: Noora Kero / Finnish Red Cross

Nikenson Fabre (29) has an important role at the Finnish Red Cross mobile clinic in Port-au-Prince. This Haitian National Society Red Cross volunteer translates for the clinic staff what the patients are saying in Creole or French, directs patients to a nurse or doctor, and comforts crying children. While carrying on with his work, he spoke of 12 January.

“At quarter past four in the afternoon I left the office of the Haitian Red Cross. I hopped on a TapTap, a local bus, and got off at the stop where I change buses. That’s when the earth started to tremble. I shouted at people in the streets: ‘Get out, get out! Get away from the buildings!’

“I could see houses collapsing, entire floors coming down all at once. In less than a minute, there was insane destruction. Almost instantly, I was surrounded by an incredible number of dead and seriously injured people.

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Stanley Clairmont

Stanley Clairmont was washing his clothes for university the next day when a massive earthquake struck his home town of Port-au-Prince in Haiti. Despite government reports that the earthquake only lasted 17 seconds, Stanley says it felt like an eternity.

Although Stanley’s house survived the quake, massive cracks in the walls and roof make it dangerous to be inside, particularly with the continued aftershocks in the city. For now, Stanley and his family are living with 100 other families from his neighbourhood in an open area near by.

“We stay out in the open, where there are no walls. We managed to make a shelter with blankets and sheets we got from the house, but it’s not much. I’m sharing with my mother, my grandmother, two sisters and my cousin. Soon after the earthquake, our neighbours started to join us and at one point there were about 150 families in our camp,” said Stanley.

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During a disaster such as the Haiti earthquake, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies deploys Emergency Response Units (ERUs). The current earthquake response is the largest single country deployment, with more than 20 ERUs aiding the Haitian people. This video explains how they work and what they’re doing in Haiti.

Duvogene lost a leg in the earthquake that hit Haiti on 12 January 2010.

In addition to her physical needs, the Red Cross Red Crescent is trying to help her overcome the psychological trauma of losing a limb. She is regularly being visited by volunteerss who specialize in psycho-social support.

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Two babies were born yesterday (20 January) at a Red Cross Red Crescent field hospital in Port-au-Prince. The babies – a boy and a girl – and their mothers are reported to be doing well. They were born within the magnitude 6 aftershock that struck early in the morning.

“A patient suddenly arrived on whom we had to do a caesarean, and another who we thought we would have to do a caesarean,” explained Arthur Halvorsen, a Norwegian Red Cross anaesthesiologist. “We took the first mother in to the operating theatre and managed to deliver the baby in a caesarean. This kid is now doing very well. “The other mother who was brought in actually ended up giving birth naturally while we were doing the first caesarean.”

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Maude Froberg in Haiti

Note: Maude Froberg is the communications manager for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in New York. She recently joined the IFRC media team in Haiti.

Tonight – no shooting stars over Port-au-Prince,

Darkness has just fallen over the Red Cross base camp in the quake-stricken city of Port-au-Prince. Thousands of stars twinkle above us when we put up our tents and mosquito domes in the inner yard of what will become our Red Cross base camp. We, some sixty delegates, calmly share the one and only toilet and generously divide our food. The inner yard is surrounded by stores which will be used as warehouses, but which are still too insecure to sleep in. The quake has cracked the walls.

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Photo Credit: Dennis Drenner/American Red Cross

United States President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama visited American Red Cross workers on 18 January, 2010 in the disaster operations center at Red Cross headquarters in Washington, D.C.

American Red Cross staff Eric Porterfield (left) and Wendy Harman invited (right) President Barack Obama to “tweet” a message via the @redcross Twitter account announcing his visit.

After hitting send, he remarked that this was his first ever “tweet“.

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The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement began its work immediately after the earthquake struck Haiti. Tammam Aloudat, senior officer of emergency health at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, shares the health activities of the Haitian Red Cross.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also launched into work with Red Cross Red Crescent partners. From the onset of the disaster, ICRC staff already in Haiti distributed medical items to hospitals. Following that, a cargo plane carrying 40 tonnes of relief supplies left Switzerland Thursday evening. Due to the chaos in Haiti, access and security are the biggest challenges the humanitarian community is now facing.

Judith Betrand, 10, attended by a Dominican Red Cross volunteer in Cite Soleil, Port-au-Prince. Photo: American Red Cross/Talia Frenkel (p-HTI0167) For more information: www.ifrc.org/haiti

Along with our government and non-government partners, the Red Cross Red Crescent is in Haiti, delivering emergency assistance, first aid, shelter and water. Follow the Red Cross Red Crescent response online through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. Also, share what you have done in your community, whether it’s serving as a local Red Cross Red Crescent volunteer, donating financial support or sharing updates on the Haiti disaster with your friends and family.

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Miriam Castaneda

Canadian Red Cross Haiti Program Manager Miriam Castaneda has been living and working in Haiti since September 2009. She was in her apartment in Port au Prince when the earthquake struck and immediately went to the Canadian Red Cross office where she worked with staff and volunteers to provide emergency first aid, triaging over 250 injured the first night. Here is her account of how a recent day unfolded:

January 17, 2009

My days start very early in the morning. I have started a cantina service for our local logistic support staff (drivers, logisticians, security); I get up early every morning and prepare breakfast, with their help.

I spoke with the President of the Haitian Red Cross and expressed my concern for the people who were suffering beyond words, and asked for her support. She understood immediately, agreed and instructed her staff to assist us in transporting the injured for medical care.

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