From Ken Hacket, president of Catholic Relief Services (CRS):

While roads are starting to clear and food and aid are reaching hundreds of thousands of people, the needs are still enormous in Haiti. Toppled buildings, sprawling camps and tented homes set up on the roadside are sobering reminders of the long road ahead.

New fears loom about the oncoming rainy season and the critical needs for emergency shelter and sanitation. "It's going to turn into Woodstock out there," says Lane Hartill of Catholic Relief Services, as he explains that the grass has all but worn away under the tents in Pétionville at the former golf course turned into a CRS-led organized camp that attracts as many as 50,000 people during the day and up to 80,000 at night. To help prepare for the coming rains, CRS and our partner, Caritas Haiti, have ordered materials for 20,000 temporary shelter kits, and are planning for more.

Nevertheless, we are making strides daily and reaching more people than ever. CRS and Caritas Haiti are distributing an average of 62 metric tons of food per day. In addition to Pétionville, CRS has been designated as lead agency for coordinating relief efforts in the town of Léogâne, as well as for serving around 50 smaller church-identified sites. As a result, CRS and Caritas are anticipating helping hundreds of thousands of people in the next few months.

CRS and Caritas Haiti medical teams are treating an estimated 300 people per day. They are seeing a gradual change in needs from acute wounds to more waterborne illnesses, such as diarrhea and typhoid, so a public health campaign has been created to encourage better sanitary health practices to limit these outbreaks. Additionally, CRS is working with a team from the University of Maryland shock trauma unit, which will be performing round-the-clock surgeries and saving many more lives. The 22-person team brought 8,000 pounds of donated and purchased medical supplies, equipment and medications.
CRS is extremely grateful for the outpouring of support we have received in response to this terrible crisis.

However, the unprecedented level of destruction in Haiti leaves us anticipating that many millions more dollars will be needed. CRS had been working in Haiti for 55 years and we will be there responding for years to come, long after the media spotlight fades. Please donate today to help CRS' response in Haiti.

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Since the beginning of the earthquake response through January 30, 2010, CRS/Caritas Haiti has:

• Distributed food to 108,678 people, and non-food relief items to 21,736 people.
• Provided medical care and treatment to a total of 3,226 people, and hygiene kits to 10,000 people.
• Supported St Francois de Sales Hospital with medical materials and supplies, volunteer doctors and nurses, food, water and other support to expand emergency medical care.
• Established three functioning operating rooms-conducting an average of 12 severe surgical cases per day-as well as a laboratory, X-Ray room, and blood bank at St. Francois de Sales Hospital.
• Resumed primary care at 12 highly populated areas in Port-au-Prince and Léôgane.
• Launched a public health campaign carried out through megaphone, leaflets, and radio.
• Distributed dry food rations to nearly 40,000 people at Pétionville Golf Club, the largest displaced camp in the city.
• Installed four bladders for water storage and purification in various areas of the city, and conducted water and sanitation assessments in another 10 locations.
• Constructed five latrines separated by gender at St. Francois de Sales Hospital, and developed an initial strategy for drainage, showers, and sanitation at camps and temporary settlements.
• Drafted guidelines for sanitation and hygiene kits.
• Established standards for emergency shelter kits and a prototype for transitional shelters, as well as technical standards for assessing habitability of buildings, and standards for debris-cleaning and cash-for-work activities.