Hurricane Matthew Relief Initiative

Category 5 Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti on October 4, 2016. The southern coastal region was absolutely devastated with the entire region cut off from outside access. Jon Rose, W4W’s founder, met up with Fritz Pierre Louis, W4W Haiti Country Director, shortly after the hurricane hit. Below is Jon’s account of the situation:

“The main issue right now is access. It's all virtually impassable by land so cities there (such as Jeremie, Port Salut, etc) are almost completely isolated. That said, with the MINUSTAH (UN Haiti Mission) force already on the ground conducting relief and the helicopters that SOUTHCOM has pushed forward, the distribution of supplies to those areas will dramatically improve.

With very few structures left and more importantly entire food and water supplies compromised, the situation is as real as it gets. The survivors are completely at the mercy of air or sea relief operations as of now.

Much like with most of the other disasters we’ve responded to the needs in this first phase of relief are the same - water, food, shelter. This along with debris removal and obviously the rebuilding of structures in the long term.

It feels almost redundant and uninspiring to be writing again, about another disaster we’re responding to… But then I remember, this organization was born from a disaster – when we were caught directly in the middle of the 2009 earthquake in Padang, Sumatra. So, being that it is literally in our DNA, we feel a genuine responsibility to respond – every time. But it also goes beyond a feeling of responsibility… it is now the feeling of experience that really drives these decisions, and with that, the understanding that we can undoubtedly make a difference.

This experience I speak of... Well, Hurricane Matthew is the 16th disaster since we started W4W in 2009 and the 15th since the devastating quake that leveled Haiti in 2010. We’ve grown immensely over the last 7 years, taking note from each disaster experience and refining our program thereafter.

At this point we have a very tactical and strategic approach to implement our clean water program in almost any environment or condition, with a fully sustainable outcome. In addition, Haiti itself is the place that Waves For Water truly developed, and where we have done our largest scale of work. Which makes us incredibly well equipped (with very solid local teams and resources) to respond.

For this specific initiative we will be focused on mitigating the immediate suffering of the victims in the hardest hit areas, by providing access to the most essentially needed item to survive – clean water. Secondarily, but not any less important, will be our attention towards stopping a potentially devastating Cholera outbreak, in the weeks to come. We have worked on the front lines of the Cholera epidemic in Haiti for years and this type of disaster is exactly what can spark it up again.

In addition, because we already have such a great local team and network there we are also leveraging some of our US based partners and relationships to coordinate other urgently needed supplies and services (food, medical, etc) –making this a multi-layered relief program with an expanded mission set, beyond our primary focus of clean water. Our initial approach is to personally strike areas of need, from intel that comes directly through our existing local networks. We will also be activating other groups and organizations with water filters systems and other essential supplies for them to implement throughout their various programs. This two pronged approach is what we did after the earthquake in Nepal and Typhoon Haiyan, in the Philippines. It helps to broaden our scope of work and simply, cover more ground. We can only do so much as one team, so if we can empower other trusted groups with the right knowledge and tools, we then have a small army covering many corners of the country at the same time.

For example, The Rotary Club is another group that are working there already and will serve as an implementing partner for this initiative… they have extensive networks and a trusted track record with relief in Haiti.

In terms of timeline – our local teams have been gathering intel and assessing the damage over the past couple days and I will be arriving there on Saturday with our international team. From there our strike plan will be carried out over the course of the coming weeks. Lastly, two US based groups have generously stepped up to support the activation of this initiative, which frankly, is the only way it happens. So on behalf of the entire W4W team, I’d like to give a special shout out to the fine folks over at, dos Gardenias (CA based swimwear brand), and The Waterbearers (clean water based social activism campaign)! Thank you and stay tuned for more updates from the field…”

We are committed to continuing work in Haiti and invite you to support our ongoing efforts at reaching as many Haitians in need of clean water as possible. Thank you.