Latin America

The first three months – emergency response

Caritas started to send staff, aid and to donate money within hours of the earthquake. Caritas Haiti, Catholic Relief Services (a US member of Caritas) and Caritas Switzerland already had programmes in Haiti. They were on the ground assessing the situation and establishing what immediate needs were from the beginning In the first few months, ...

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A year in Haiti for one Caritas member organisation

A year in Haiti for one Caritas member organisation

Catholic Relief Services (CRS – an American member of Caritas) had been working Haiti 55 years before the earthquake struck. On 12 January, CRS had a staff of around 300 on the ground who had been working on existing programmes. Here’s how the year panned out: 12 January: When the earthquake hits in the afternoon, many ...

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Caritas providing long term help to rebuild Haiti

Caritas providing long term help to rebuild Haiti

Close to a year after the earthquake, Caritas relief and reconstruction programmes in Haiti are well-established throughout the country. Caritas will invest more than $217 million in Haiti over a one year period that started in May 2010. This aid will cover further emergency needs caused for example by hurricanes, floods or the cholera epidemic, ...

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Livelihoods – Helping farmers in Haiti

Livelihoods – Helping farmers in Haiti

With Port-au-Prince in ruins following the earthquake, hundreds of thousands of people fled to the countryside. Les Cayes, in the south or Haiti, is a rural zone. It is very vulnerable to heavy rains, floods and soil erosion due to deforestation. Enelio Teme is trying to help his relatives who arrived from Port-au-Prince following the ...

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Good news on climate justice from Cancun

Good news on climate justice from Cancun

The Cancun summit has not delivered climate justice for poor countries, but it has produced a way forward for a future deal to safeguard the lives of the poor and future generations. The pressure will continue on governments to produce a legally binding deal in Durban South Africa next December. Climate justice will mean deep ...

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Action against Cholera in Haiti

Action against Cholera in Haiti

Preventing the spread of cholera in earthquake-wracked Haiti remains a chief concern for Caritas. New cases of the waterborne disease continue to be reported in much of the country, including the centre, north and northwest, and west. Cholera prevention and hygiene promotion are ongoing throughout the capital Port-au-Prince and in all the affected communities. Haiti ...

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Money will talk at Cancun climate summit

Money will talk at Cancun climate summit

By Christine Campeau, Caritas Internationalis  Financing climate adaptation in developing countries is a must. It will determine the success of the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 16th Conference of the Parties (COP 16) in Cancun, Mexico in 29 November to 10 December 2010. There is widespread pessimism over the lack of ...

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Caritas Mexico gets ready for climate summit

Caritas Mexico gets ready for climate summit

With Climate talks scheduled for December in Cancun, Caritas Mexico is keeping busy in their planning to raise awareness. Bishop Gustavo Rodriguez Vega, the President of Caritas Mexicana was part of the Caritas Internationalis delegation last year at the climate talks in Copenhagen and is eager to mobilize civil society organisations and the Church in ...

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