PORTFOLIO | REPORTAGE | HAITI EARTHQUAKE

A magnitude 7 earthquake struck Haiti on January 12th 2010, one of the poorest west hemisphere's third world countries, leaving up to 250,000 casualties and as many as 3M injured, disabled and homeless seeking medical attention, food and basic supplies.

Only 48 hours after the deadly earthquake attacked Haiti, the Israeli delegation landed at Port - au-Prince, Established within hours, on the city's football stadium, a field hospital, which included an emergency room, operating rooms and delivery rooms.
The volunteer doctors of the delegation came back every night to the Israeli hospital with injured that could not be treated on the field and needed surgery or hospitalization.
The Israeli hospital was undoubtedly the only place that provide high-level of medical services around the clock. In total - more than 1,100 wounded received medical treatment at the Israeli hospital and 317 life-saving surgeries performed.

A year since the earthquake, Haiti is worse state than ever with tent cities becoming permanent shelters for close to 1.5 million, a cholera epidemic raging, international help slow to come or improperly channeled, a presidential election with 17 candidates and deadly protest against the UN peace keeping force accused of caring cholera from Asia. The garbage stagnating in the canal and the nonexistent of origin public health conditions and sanitary practices in the earthquake-ravaged country, facilitating the spread of the Cholera bacteria, that by January 1st 2011 has already killed over 3,300.

Two months after the earthquake, the Israeli hospital Tel-Hashomer, together with MDA (the Israeli national emergency medical) financed by the JDC (the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee), established a Rehabilitation Department for Victims of the earthquake inside the General Hospital in Port-au-prince. The rehabilitation department provides about 80 prostheses, treats hundreds of injured Haitians, and trained the local medical staff that would be able to provide correct differentiation even after the Israeli team, who is working in rotation, will return finally to Israel.