Monday, 25 January 2010 12:57

The First Wave of Relief for Haitians in Excluded Regions

▲ More than three thousand local Haitians lined up to receive relief supplies

(Photograph provided by Good Neighbors)

▲Haitians receiving food and water (Photograph provided by Good Neighbors)

▲A Haitian woman receiving bags of rice and beans,

which will feed her family for two weeks. (Photograph provided by Good Neighbors)

▲A Good Neighbors team member giving a Haitian

boy a bottle of water. (Photograph provided by Good Neighbors)

Good Neighbors is appealing for more attention and support from communities two weeks after the Haiti earthquake. Over the past two weekends, the donation rate has decreased abruptly. Past donations had been topping 100,000 USD every day; now, it is reduced to 15,000 USD a day from last Saturday.

Executive director Joong Gon Kim of the Emergency Relief Headquarters of Good Neighbors said: “The Haiti earthquake is not to be compared to any preceding events in damage and impact, so interest was very high. However, after two weeks, the attention seems fading away abruptly.” Experts say complete recovery in Haiti will take at least 10 years.

Good Neighbors distributed relief supplies to people in Damien, Port-au-Prince for the first time this past week. According to Good Neighbors, this distribution is the first of its size and formality performed by an official relief organization based in Korea.

Good Neighbors relief team distributed 5000 bags of rice and beans to three thousand people and 750 families who have not been received any relief until that day. One person per family received two bags of rice each weighing 4.54kg and two bags of beans weighing 908g each, which can feed four members of one family three meals a day for two weeks. Some shed tears of joy while receiving the supplies.