Robert Radtke, President of Episcopal Relief & Development, addressing Diocesan Convention on Jan. 30, 2010. Photo by Steve Boston.

Building on its longstanding relationships with the Diocese of Haiti and supported by prayers and donations from across the Episcopal Church, the church’s relief and development agency is helping Haiti’s people in the aftermath of the massive Jan. 12 earthquake and is committed to assisting it in rebuilding in the years to come, Episcopal Relief & Development President Robert Radtke told Diocesan Convention on Jan. 30.

“Your prayers, first of all, for the people of Haiti are very, very important at this time,” he said. “As you can see on television, the situation remains very, very dire … and I fear that it’s yet going to get worse before it’s going to get better.”

“The damage to the infrastructure of the diocese is considerable,” he said. Structures including the cathedral, diocesan headquarters, convent and College of St. Pierre are gone, many schools and churches destroyed or damaged, he said. St. Vincent’s School for Handicapped Children collapsed, killing six to 10 staff and students.

The Episcopal Church’s largest diocese numerically, Haiti has more than 83,000 Episcopalians in 169 congregations served by fewer than 40 active clergy. ERD’s partnership with the diocese “has been one of our most developed programs,” including microfinancing, schools, feeding programs, reforestation and recently completed training of laity for disaster response, particularly after hurricanes, Radtke said.

The diocese is caring for an estimated 25,000 people, he said. “Episcopal Relief & Development has provided financial resources to the diocese so that, as and when supplies become available in Port au Prince, they have funds to purchase them.”

“We’re struggling right now, I’ll be honest,” he said. Supply chains through the airport are uncertain, the port is destroyed, and roads already in poor shape are “getting in worse shape as trucks and heavy earth-moving equipment and construction equipment are moved across those roads.”

ERD has chartered a helicopter company to do food and water drops, set up a convoy from the neighboring Dominican Republic and is working with a company to provide good latrine services on the St. Pierre grounds, where 2,300 people are camping, he said. Many people are fleeing Haiti for the Dominican Republic, and ERD staff have been in both countries trying to help their bishops handle this internal migration, he added.

“Haiti, as we all know, was in a dire place before this catastrophe, and it’s going to take years to recover,” Radtke said. “I think it’s important to remember the long-term nature of this process. … Right now, we remain in many ways in the first phase of this disaster: the rescue phase.”

“We’re moving clearly into the relief phase as well,” when the goal is to provide temporary safe and sanitary conditions, he said. Normally this lasts a few months, he said, but predicted it could last much longer in Haiti. “After all, there are still people living in FEMA trailers outside of New Orleans.”

The final phase – recovery – will seek to help Haiti rebuild and return to self-sufficiency as much as possible. ERD will be there “for the long haul,” he said.

After most of the television cameras leave, he said, “the human suffering continues. This is a chronic state, not a crisis. However, it is the phase that Episcopal Relief and its partners excel at because we work with churches that are part of communities that know the needs best and how to meet them. The unmet needs of a place like Haiti … will be monumental.”

“Your support has been incredibly important,” he said. “The Diocese [of Newark] was one of the first in line with a very generous contribution.”

The diocese contributed $10,000 to ERD for Haiti and invited other congregations to contribute as well. So far, $55,000 total has been donated from the diocese, Bishop Mark Beckwith reported to the convention.

Information about ERD’s response in the aftermath of the earthquake can be found online at http://www.er-d.org/HaitiCrisis.