Earthquake Relief Efforts: Sawyer Water Filters Partnership

 The situation in the South of Haiti remains critical.  There are more than 2,200 dead and 12,000 injured, as well as 130,000 homes destroyed or damaged. 

Aid is just beginning to arrive but the international response has been limited.  

There are still communities in the rural areas that haven’t received any aid and they are in desperate need of water, food and tents.

Flying High 4 Haiti’s founder, Ines Lozano, travelled to the South of Haiti to assess the situation and identify the most urgent needs.  Lozano met with the mayor of St. Louis du Sud, Luc Edwin Ceide and the mayor of of Ile-a-Vache, Amazan Jean-Yves, and visited some of the most affected areas.

The mayors stressed that access to potable water is one of the most urgent needs. There are many communities in the rural areas near rivers or wells, so water filters are a vital, practical solution. The state water delivery agency DINEPA (Direction Nationale de L’eau)  was damaged during the earthquake meaning that companies that usually offer the public filtered water don’t have access to their usual supply.

To help alleviate the water situation on the island we have partnered with Sawyer International.

Proving and training the island on using the Sawyer filtration system will help control infectious disease outbreaks that are commonly secondary effects of major natural disasters. It will also allow children and families to have drinking water at home, retain more nutrients, decrease medical expenses, and miss fewer school and workdays.

Sawyer has graciously donated 1,000 water filters and has offered a special discounted price for the remaining ones.

We are currently asking for a donation of $21.00 to provide a complete water filtering system, that will give sustainable clean drinking water to an entire family. If properly maintained, a Sawyer water filter can last 10+ years. Some filters installed in Haiti in 2008 are still in use to this day.