Save the Children focuses on long-term plan to build better disaster planning and management in Haiti

Even as Save the Children delivers aid to children and families in Haiti, the international humanitarian agency is building a long-term plan to build back better in the impoverished, earthquake-ravaged country.

After returning from a trip to Haiti, Save the Children President and CEO Charles MacCormack said: "We are on the ground delivering aid to children and families in Haiti right now, but we must do much more than that. It's key we all use this opportunity to build back better in Haiti. Save the Children drew on strong public support to do just that in Asia following the massive Tsunami that hit 5 years ago, and we can do the same for the Haitian people who have endured so much."

"In Aceh, Indonesia today, things are much better than they were before the Tsunami hit," MacCormack added. "Children have a brighter future now thanks to new and better clinics, health programs, schools, trained teachers, earthquake-safe housing and disaster-preparedness plans. If we think of what Haiti should look like five years from now and start early making these good things happen, that will be really an honor for those who have lost their lives in this situation."

Save the Children has reached hundreds of thousands of children across five Asian countries since the 2004 Tsunami.

Sunday, MacCormack was the first CEO of an international aid organization to travel to Haiti, where he assessed the relief needs, met with staff, and toured one of the camps where Save the Children is addressing the needs of children. He traveled to Haiti Sunday on a plane with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N. delegation.

Monday, Save the Children planned to continue distributing life-saving medical supplies in Port-au-Prince after a 15-metric-ton shipment of these supplied arrives in Haiti from AmeriCares.

Tuesday, 12 U.S.-based doctors were scheduled to arrive in Haiti and head straight to new mobile health clinics Save the Children will mount in the coastal city of Leogane, near the earthquake epicenter. Save the Children is also readying large shipments of medical supplies to arrive in Leogane Tuesday.

Save the Children is particularly concerned about the health and safety of young children and babies being born at the camps sheltering homeless families. With little clean water and unsanitary conditions, disease could easily spread and be fatal for the youngest earthquake survivors.

Monday, Save the Children also started setting up the first of many Child Friendly Spaces planned for shelters and camps housing hurricane victims. These safe spaces protect children and give them a place to play and recover from the suffering they have endured and witnessed.

SOURCE: Save the Children