Josh and Alli Ayers current blog update on Haiti.
[click here]
EMI's relief efforts are featured in the local news.
[click here]
Update - August 17, 2010
EMI’s 15th team to Haiti since the earthquake returned August 2nd. Team leader Scott Powell, structural engineers Bob Stimson and Mike Young, and architect Brice Aarrestad took to the field to assess over 360 houses for the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee. Although they thought it was a near-impossible task for a two-week trip, they plowed ahead anyway. After completing less than half of the scope of work the first week, the team’s exhaustion from the heat, the walking, and the driving caught up with them. Scott even wrote to his wife, “If we finish even a fraction of all we have to do this [second] week, it will be a true testimony of God's power being made perfect in our weakness.” And so it was. The team completed 365 housing assessments—more than what was asked—plus detailed assessments for a 127-child orphanage and a 1,000-parishoner church, and a full architectural design for a school/church prototype! We saw 2 Corinthians 12:9 fulfilled in our tired bodies before our very eyes. Christ’s power truly is made perfect in our weakness. Read more about the trip on Brice’s blog.
Thank you to all of you who have contributed to these efforts with your time, talents, and resources. The Body of Christ has come together in amazing ways to reach out to the people of Haiti and Chile. May God receive all the glory.
Help EMI's Effort
- If you are interested in helping, please consider making a donation to cover the costs of these efforts [click here].
- If you'd like to sign up for EMI's Disaster Response team [click here].
(Note: Due to the inherently complex and stressful nature of crisis situations, candidates must have first traveled with EMI on a non-disaster reponse before being considered for the team)
Update - April 30, 2010
This year already, EMI has mobilized eight teams to Haiti and one to Chile in the greatest response effort in EMI's history to two of the worst disasters of our time. In addition to our own Josh Ayers traveling to Haiti with his wife, Alli, for two months to perform construction management with Food for the Hungry on a large transitional shelter project, there are four more EMI teams en route to Haiti in the next two months. Three of those are design/reconstruction-oriented and there is one more structural damage assessment team.
Micah Florea from our Costa Rica office will be leading that last team. There are still several ministries among the dozens that requested EMI's services who we haven't been able to visit yet, and the goal of this trip is to conduct structural safety assessments on as many of the remaining buildings as possible. The team will use ATC-20 safety evaluation procedures to inspect the buildings and post placards. The project sites are spread out all over the disaster area, so the team will have to be efficient and mobile. Please pray for divine provision for this team as they seek to serve the underserved.
Update - March 26, 2010
Our team from Chile has just returned and is assessing our next steps. They had a unique opportunity to visit some of the worst hit areas and rural areas which tend to not get help quickly. Meanwhile, we still have two teams in Haiti. One doing water & sanitation with IDP camps and one doing structural assessments. These teams will return by Easter. Both earthquakes have stretched the capacity of our offices (America Latina, Canada and USA) and we would appreciate your prayers as we next move toward reconstruction design teams. There will also be continuing opportunities to volunteer.
March 19, 2010
Our 7th team to Haiti leaves tomorrow to do structural assessments for a wide variety of organizations. Up until now we have focused our structural assessments on critical areas like hospitals and then larger organizations like Compassion International and Food for the Hungry. One of our Canadian staff will lead the team. A water/sanitation team is still in country working with Samaritan’s Purse on Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps. These camps are large – typically 5000 people or so. Our understanding is that people are getting temporarily resettled and things will begin shifting to reconstruction. In this regard, another team is in country surveying a 62 acre site which will be master planned for resettlement housing. Construction of small homes is expected to begin soon. We were blessed by the decision of the President of Haiti to cancel Mardi Gras and instead call for prayer and fasting. Thank you for your ongoing interest and support. The people of Haiti have a long ways to go.
March 12, 2010
Yesterday our 6th team went to Haiti to continue assistance with water and wastewater issues for IDP (internally displaced people) camps with Samaritan's Purse. We have had people on the ground in Haiti setting up proper water and wastewater systems in camps for the last 8 weeks. We are grateful for the volunteers who have been willing to go and those of you who have donated and made it possible to send them. As the hundreds of thousands displaced by the earthquake get settled soon the next phase of reconstruction can begin. We are now assembling another structural assessment team to prepare for the reconstruction phase.
In addition, yesterday we sent our Disaster Response Coordinator - Scott Powell along with Josh Ayers, and volunteer Jeremy Livermore to Chile to begin to assess the situation and needs there. We have established contacts with the Christian & Missionary Alliance ministry of compassion and mercy, the Vineyard churches, and Campus Crusade ministries in the affected areas. Our team will conduct structural safety evaluations and assess water & sanitation needs.
Please pray for their spiritual preparation, transportation logistics, solid connections and nourishing relationships with ministry partners in the affected area, a productive time in country, and open hearts and listening ears to hear and empathize with the peoples' stories. We recognize that the situation in Chile may be uniquely different than the situation in Haiti. We pray for wisdom to know how to best respond to both.
March 5th, 2010
Gary's EMI team of structural engineers are finishing up their damage assessments with Compassion International and plan to return home Saturday, March 6th.
On February 28th, he wrote this on his Facebook page:
Today we met with a US Army Corps engineer in charge of operations at the Hotel Montana and walked and studied the collapse site and heard the stories of deaths and near misses - fearsome, terrible, horrific...and that's after 6 weeks of clearing away. Even my California structural experts had never seen anything like it.
EMI mobilized a fifth team last week to serve Samaritan's Purse with more water purification site assessments. They are in Grand Goave right now. Stories here: [4jcg.org] and pictures here: [haiti.johnagee.com]
A quick report from John Agee, on that team:
Today started with more shaking as another aftershock rumbled through this region. I do not have much time to detail today's activities, but Rod and I had another productive day: assessing potential water site up in the hills near Grand Goave and finishing setup for the water treatment system we started on Friday at Mission of Hope. The ministry and community there was very supportive through the setup process, and they were quite appreciative of the clean water, water storage bladder, and tap stands. Harvey, a chaplain with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, joined Rod and I this afternoon as we started the Mission of Hope water system. We prayed for and encouraged volunteers and staff with the ministry in starting the first day of class today, as well as their efforts in food distribution, medical clinics, and orphanage care. I praise God for this opportunity to be involved with delivering good water to the kids and community around this ministry-May He receive all of the glory and praise!
A sixth EMI team is planning to depart for Port au Prince next Wednesday to continue our efforts improving the drinking water situation in the southern peninsula with Samaritan's Purse and Water Missions International. We are also in communication with ministry partners in Chile regarding a potential EMI disaster response there as well. Thank you all for your prayers and support as we reach out to these nations meeting basic needs in a critical time.
February 19, 2010
Gary MacPhee is leading our fourth team of volunteers departing Monday, February 22nd and returning March 6th. They will be serving Compassion International and several local partners assessing over 40 damaged buildings for structural integrity. This team is stacked with California structural engineers specifically trained for post-earthquake damage assessment.
Please pray that this team would bless people by giving them the confidence to move back into safe homes, hospitals, clinics, churches, orphanages, and the like. Pray that they would gently release those who are still holding onto hope that their unsafe home could somehow be rehabilitated into the realization that they might need to start over. Pray that God would give Gary and his team the words to say in those times.
Pray also that, even as the demand for their services keeps them focused on their task, that they would not miss key opportunities to show the love of Christ at a critical time.
February 5, 2010
Our first two teams to Haiti the followed the initial rescue and recovery are now back home. One concentrated on water purification. The other on structural assessment of hospitals and clinics. Both have returned in good health and encouraged by how well the Haitian people are responding to this difficult situation.
Our third team is now on the ground assisting Samaritan's Purse as they set up various Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps for thousands of people. This team is helping with water and wastewater planning and set up. We are still working towards launching a fourth team hopefully later next week. This team would be another structural assessment team. We are getting requests from a variety of organizations to assess and help with the restoring structures. Compassion International and Habitat for Humanity are two groups that have multiple structures for us to assess and design corrective measures. This team will also seek to train more Haitian to do assessment of their own homes. We are still looking for several structural engineers to join this team.
Thank you for standing with us as we seek to serve the people of Haiti.
January 29, 2010
One of our two teams on the ground did a training this week for Haitian workers with Food for the Hungry to assess damaged buildings. There is huge shortage of trained personnel to assess damaged structures. It was exciting to release these new workers to help their people. The local population is erring on the side of caution which means they fear going in any building. This is good however some of houses are ok and the people can move back inside. At the same time, some finally learn that their house - which may take them a lifetime to build - is unsafe and needs to be torn down.
Our second team is working with Samaritan's Purse as they begin setting up tent cities for the internally displaced people (IDP camps). We have a third team deploying early next week to also work on this. We are the technical team for water and sanitation. Two units that we are using to purify water are the Sawyer water filters and Water Ministries International's (WMI) high-capacity community water filter systems.
We are looking towards a fourth team that would concentrate on structural assessments. We have done what we can with hospitals and clinics and soon it will be time to assess many of the other public buildings in Haiti.
Thank you for your continued prayer and financial support. Our teams feel this. While everyday things like food, safety and transportation are a challenge but they have been fine. Our folks have a sense that out of the devastation a new season of hope is coming for Haiti. Let us keep working toward that.
January 22, 2010
We have two teams now working both in the capital of Port au Prince and south of the capital. They are setting up and training others with water filtration systems to provide clean water. In addition, they are also doing structural assessments initially of hospitals and clinics. Communication and coordination of relief efforts remains very challenging and chaotic. We are grateful for all who have responded with prayer and financial support. We do not need additional volunteers right now but will be assessing the longer term needs of rebuilding as the relief effort unfolds. Thank you.
A local news channel produced a story about EMI's efforts in Haiti [click here]
January 15, 2010
EMI is assembling a team to respond to the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti Tuesday afternoon, January 12th. When an earthquake of such magnitude (defined as "Major" on the Richter scale) occurs in a place as vulnerable to natural disasters as Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, massive damage results. Basic services, such as water and electricity have ceased. Multiple hospitals have collapsed. News agencies report that over 100,000 people are feared dead.
EMI is mobilizing experienced civil and structural engineers to show God's love in the midst of this disaster. We will come alongside our ministry partners by assessing structural damage, setting up clean water systems, and sharing an encouraging word in Jesus' name. Following immediate search and rescue efforts, safe shelter and clean water will be critical needs in the days ahead. If you feel led to assist in these efforts, please prayerfully consider making a financial donation toward this and future EMI response efforts.
