Two years ago  a deadly earthquake struck Haiti, destroying homes, buildings and lives in a country that was already battling conflict and grinding poverty.

As rescue teams worked to pull the trapped from the rubble 4,000 miles away, people across Scotland were moved to help – and responded with one of the biggest fundraising efforts the country has seen.

Around £12 million was raised for Haiti from Scotland, including £8.8 million for the Disasters Emergency Committee. The Scottish Government added £687,000 in grants for emergency relief.

"The earthquake in Haiti brought an incredible response from right across Scotland," says John Cunningham, director of fundraising for the Edinburgh-based charity Mercy Corps.

"The devastation was so sudden and so total that I think it really touched people around the world. The fact that millions of people already struggling in the grip of intense poverty were struck by a disaster like this certainly made people here more likely to donate. Everyone could see from the images on television and in the papers exactly how their contributions were needed."

Since January 2010, the charities supported by the Scottish public - from global organisations like Oxfam to the small Dunfermline-based Lemon Aid - have been working to help Haiti get back on its feet, providing food, water, shelter, healthcare and education.

Today, there is evidence of hope and progress after the devastation, but those working  in the field agree that there is still a lot more to be done.

Mary’s Meals

Impact: Mary’s Meals, which runs school feeding projects in developing countries, was already working in Haiti, including in Cite Soleil, a slum in the capital city, Port au Prince, at the time of the earthquake. The schools in the slum were all either badly damaged, or completely destroyed.

Short term action: Constructing temporary classrooms so that children could go to school while long-term rebuilding took place. Supplying drinking water and medicines for earthquake victims, food for the vulnerable and elderly and clothing and hygiene kits for homeless families.

Long term support: Since the earthquake Mary’s Meals has helped more than 17,000 children to get back to school, providing them with a daily meal while they are there. The charity funded a mobile health clinic and helped with the permanent rebuilding of schools  - providing work for local residents. The majority of the building and repair work has now been completed, but school feeding continues. Mary’s Meals aims to reach more children in Haiti and remains committed to supporting those in need for as long as is necessary.

Field notes:  Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, Mary’s Meals founder, travelled to Haiti a few days after the earthquake: "After arriving in Port au Prince, I found myself standing in a little courtyard, in the middle of a dark and devastated city. Around us, we could hear gunfire, the roar of helicopters, and screams, moans and shouts of anger," he says.

"We ventured into Cité Soleil, where our friends had built seven schools in which we provided Mary’s Meals. These schools had become incredible symbols of hope to the impoverished people there, but our grim and emotional tour revealed that each school had been damaged, probably beyond repair. Children who usually benefited from our daily meals were sitting outside in the rubble staring at their destroyed classrooms. Some of the local men who were with us – hard men who had grown up here amongst the gangs – wept when they saw how the earthquake had, in a few seconds, undone years of hard work."

"Poverty in Cité Soleil was appalling even before the disaster, and the schools represented a safe haven for their pupils, away from the violence and deprivation. Our absolute priority was to re-open those schools and restart school feeding.

"While the challenges of working in this devastated country remain huge, we have seen real progress over the last two years, driven by Haitians who are determined that their children should have the chance to go to school and access to the opportunities that brings. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters we have been able to have a positive effect on the lives of children whose prospects looked bleak."

Fundraising: Mary’s Meals emergency appeal was launched shortly after the earthquake and raised just over £1.3 million, with support from schools, churches, community groups and individuals around the world. Dragon’s Den star Duncan Bannatyne visited Haiti to see the charity’s work in 2011: "It was amazing to see Mary’s Meals providing lunches and encouraging the kids to go to school and continue their education. It was very emotional. There was a lot of sadness, but also a lot of determination to recover – and the work going on is truly inspirational," he said.

Contact: 01838 200605 www.marysmeals.org @marysmeals

SCIAF

Impact: The Glasgow-based international aid agency has had a presence in Haiti since the 1980s. One of its partners, in Gressier, near the epicentre of the earthquake, was particularly badly hit as their headquarters was destroyed.

Short term action: Water, latrines and hygiene kits for 169,700 people and tents and blankets for 18,000 people. A cash for work scheme gave people an income in return for their work clearing rubble from the streets, digging latrines and distributing food in the camps.

Long term support: A three year scheme is underway to provide 8,000 families in rural villages with seeds, tools, animals and training so that they can grow food to eat and sell.  "The results of these programmes should help rural communities not only overcome the effects of the 2010 earthquake, but also improve their local economy based on sustainable farming techniques which will help them protect themselves and their livelihoods from future disasters," says Mark Camburn, programme officer for Latin America.

Field notes: Mary Denise from Port-au-Prince has joined SCIAF’s cash for work programme: "I had two children, but one is lost in the earthquake," she says. "I left them at my house studying. I went shopping. I felt the earth move and I went back to find my children, but I couldn’t even get into my house because it was destroyed.

"I couldn’t find the children and then I found one. I had to sleep in the street with my child. My mum’s house was also destroyed, so since the earthquake my mum and I and my child have lived here in this camp. I do the cash for work programme and I have been provided with a hygiene kit and a cooking kit. There is also clean water and showers, which is good. I still cry all the time because of my child being missing."

Fundraising: SCIAF launched an appeal the day after the earthquake struck, emailing all supporters and writing to all of the Catholic priests in Scotland asking them to appeal to their congregations. The appeal raised over £1.2 million from parishes, public donations and Scottish schools. Libby McArthur and Sally Howitt from River City even came to the office to help answer the phones.
Contact: 0141 3545555 www.sciaf.org.uk @sciaf

Mercy Corps

Impact: Mercy Corps did not work in Haiti before 2010, but staff felt that the scale of the disaster was so huge that they had to help.

Short term action: Bringing clean water to more than 429,000 people, giving emotional support to over 90,000 children, creating temporary jobs for 234,000 people, giving emergency supplies and help to people in 28 tent camps and giving 500,000 people the tools they need to fight cholera.

Long term support: Work in Haiti now focuses on tackling the root causes of poverty in Haiti. We’re helping small business owners, farmers and young people move forward and succeed.

Field notes: Carrie Beaumont, from Edinburgh, is Mercy Corps senior programme officer for Haiti and visited just after the earthquake: "Whole buildings were destroyed, roads blocked, and millions of people left homeless and living in makeshift camps. There was so much for our teams to do, from helping people get the food, water and shelter they needed immediately after the quake, to giving advice and support to help small business owners get their businesses back up and running and keep the local economy going.

"We worked with children in Haiti using sports and arts projects to help them recover and deal with the traumatic experience of the earthquake. Two years on, there’s still a long way to go for Haiti. Cholera is still a very real threat, and poverty is a constant danger. Our teams will stay in Haiti to help people there find long term solutions to the problems they face, not only to recover from the earthquake of 2010."

Fundraising: Politicians, local organisations, schools and community groups all contributed to the appeal, which raised £400,000. Mercy Corps formed the Edinburgh Disasters Response Committee with the City of Edinburgh Council and organisations from across Edinburgh to give people in the Capital a way to make a joint civic response to major international natural disasters. The Haiti earthquake was the first appeal for the Committee which since launched appeals for the floods in Pakistan and the drought and food crisis in East Africa.

Contact: 0131 6625160 www.mercycorps.org/haitiupdate @mercycorps_uk

Lemon Aid

Impact: Lemon Aid were working on a small island just off the coast of Haiti called Lagonave. Although the island is home to about 100,000, over 30,000 refugees made their way there island after the quake putting major pressure on infrastructure and water and medical provision.

Short term action: Providing a solar powered water purification plant, helping to prevent cholera in a remote community.

Long term support: After a successful fundraising drive, construction is about to begin on a new hospital for Lagonave after the original one was damaged beyond repair in the earthquake. The project involves a Scottish architect and Scottish engineering firm as well as many local workers.  Working in Haiti continues to present challenges, with some equipment, such as hospital beds and vehicles, held in customs for over a year.

Field notes: Justin Dowds, founder of Lemon Aid, says: "For me the most harrowing moment was picking up a small child called Florence who had lost five siblings and her father in the earthquake. She was pulled from the rubble after a few days. She could not, or would not speak from the shock - the look of terror in her eyes was deeply impacting. She is now in an orphanage on the island and Lemon Aid and a few other organisations are working on an orphan’s village for the children.

"We want to employ and train as many Haitians and support as many of the local businesses as we can in the building process. Our greatest joy is training and employing the Haitians - they are such hard workers and so keen to learn. What a joy to pay them at the end of the week and see them return to their homes able to care for and feed their families.

"The situation now has improved, but things are still moving slowly. It's time for action - the Haitian people have waited two years and whilst there is some good work there is not enough of it happening quickly enough."

Fundraising: Lemon Aid’s  work in Haiti has had support from members of the public across the UK, and has raised 80 per cent of the money it needs for the hospital. It receives no government funding.

Contact: www.lemonaid.org.uk www.facebook.com/lemonaidcharity

Glasgow the Caring City

Impact: The charity had been working in partnership with Emerge Poverty Free to support a school in Haiti when the earthquake struck, killing many pupils.

Short term action: Providing funds, medicines and pharmaceuticals, particularly in the Cite Soleil area. Supplying thousands with safe water.

Long term support: Around 1,000 children at five schools in the Cite Soleil area have received a meal a day for the last two years. The Good Samaritan school, which has 250 pupils, has been rebuilt and other schools have been repaired. Five teachers’ salaries (not government funded) have been paid

Contact: 0141 6348560 www.glasgowthecaringcity.com

Oxfam

Short term action: Helped 500,000 people during the first phase of the emergency humanitarian response and has assisted more than 700,000 Haitians through its cholera response programme.  

Long term support: Oxfam has gradually been exiting from more than 120 camps for displaced people, where it provided emergency water, sanitation and health. The charity has handed over ownership of water and sanitation programmes to trained water committees. Oxfam’s focus is on promoting sustainable change, strengthening civil society and supporting employment creation through development of small enterprises.

Fundraising: Oxfam is a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee, which raised about £8.8 million in Scotland.

Contact: 0300 200 1300 www.oxfam.org.uk @oxfam

Christian Aid

Impact: The Christian Aid office was destroyed in the earthquake, though staff managed to escape with their lives. Within hours staff were helping co-ordinate the relief effort, operating from their partners’ offices

Long term support: Christian Aid has concentrated its efforts in the rural areas of Haiti, helping families who fled Port-au-Prince to seek refuge with families in the countryside. Work includes repairing houses and building new dwellings (like the one pictured above) training people in the construction industry, disaster preparedness and risk reduction.

Field notes: Sarah Wilson, from Fife, is an international journalist with Christian Aid. She is in Haiti at the moment. "In previous emergencies with hurricane damage in the countryside, most aid and government agencies have been unaffected. However, with this earthquake the government, UN and aid agencies were all affected very significantly so this made things even more challenging. The people who turned up to help the victims were actually victims themselves," she says.

"We have achieved a huge amount over the past two years, in particular working with displaced people and their families in rural areas to provide housing and livelihood in the long term. It is not just a question of putting up houses. New homes must be hurricane and earthquake resistant, and provision must also be made for sanitation, health care, education and employment."

Contact:  0141 221 7475 www.christianaid.org.uk/emergencies