Estimates are that at least a million people have lost their homes. As many as 500 camps (“spontaneous settlements”) have sprung up around Port-au-Prince. Some are small, with a few dozen families occupying empty lots; others sprawl across golf courses and other areas of vacant land, where 15,000 people or more have formed ad hoc cities within the city. It’s daunting when looked at on the whole.

We start with a rapid assessment of a few sites and then begin distributing relief items such as water containers, blankets and plastic sheeting, which is used mainly for shade and protection from rain. Arrangements are made for a team of medical doctors to come in, and for children’s activities to start.

We need to keep the sense of urgency. On a macro-level, this sense of urgency isn’t always there. Transport of goods is delayed by poor infrastructure, vital money from donor organizations is slowed by paperwork, and in the meantime the rains approach while people sleep in the open air with little food to aid healing from their injuries … and fewer jobs.