No disaster is the same, yet EFCA Crisis Response has learned valuable lessons through its years of responding worldwide to tsunamis, hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes and flooding.
In these images, meet Haitians affected by the January 12, 2010, earthquake, and some of the crisis-response members who helped with initial relief and ongoing recovery.
Then, click on the EFCA Crisis Response button to learn more about specific, urgent needs.

Two ruins in particular became enduring symbols of January’s devastating earthquake: the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption (often called Port-au-Prince Cathedral) and the presidential palace (next slide).

Haiti’s Palais National, or presidential palace

Near Leogane, the earthquake’s epicenter, this two-story school pancaked. Fortunately, school was out for the day, so its 750 students were safe. The only two people trapped inside were able to escape without harm. Soon, neighbors and school staff were trying to clear rubble and carry away rebar.

Daily life in Haiti has to continue. Here, the Celestin family eats, cleans and—yes—smiles in the ruins of their home in the Delmas neighborhood.

Here, EFCA team member Brian Cole (center) watches as Greg Schuenke and a friend load up boxes with medical and relief supplies. Greg is president of Vision of Hope Ministries, and he offered his Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., home as a staging ground for EFCA teams traveling in and out of Haiti.

Whenever children were present, Mark Lewis (director of EFCA Crisis Response) soon had one in his arms. Here, Mark and his team had just delivered supplies to Good Samaritan Orphanage. Officials estimate that even before the earthquake, Haiti had more than 380,000 orphans—many undocumented and thus unlikely to be adopted.

At Notre Dame de la Nativité, these boys survived the collapse of their orphanage because they had been outside playing soccer. Eighty others were not so fortunate. Here, their play is backlit by light filtered through the smoke of burning garbage nearby. EFCA Crisis Response learned of this orphanage and its needs via Twitter.

A team of North Carolina infantrymen eagerly load up 174 boxes of Humanitarian MREs for distribution by EFCA Crisis Response and a partner ministry. Previously, the Marines had been discouraged about the logistics of getting food to people in need without causing riots.

An early priority of EFCA Crisis Response involved getting supplies from here (where they’re stored) to there (where they’re needed). Above, Haitian policeman and volunteer Yves Charles inspects a Humanitarian Daily Ration delivered to Christianville Foundation, which has been providing food, clothing, education and medical care in Gressier, Haiti, since 1978.

Terry Nelson, center, directs Light Ministries in the impoverished Carrefour neighborhood. After the earthquake, Light Ministries’ church lobby was turned into a clinic, and Terry’s home and walled courtyard were soon housing up to 100 medical volunteers and homeless church members. Here, the crisis-response team prays for Terry.

In the aftermath of the January 12 devastation, technology played an indispensible role in rescues as well as ongoing communication. Here, Pastor Absalon Joseph confers with other church leaders about a food distribution being planned for his Delmas community.

Pastor Steve Daniel Exantus, center, established Reaching Haiti 4 Christ Ministry as a way to resource church planters such as Pastor Absalon Joseph. Together, they and several crisis-response members toured the neighborhood where Pastor Absalon and his pregnant wife, and 95 percent of church members, lost their homes.

Pastor Absalon Joseph, far right, gives a tour of his church to translator Manel Breton and American Brian Bennetch. Brian and his wife, Sarah, are ReachGlobal staff in Italy who volunteered a month to serve in Haiti during the relief stage.

Tom Osbeck serves as interim pastor of Victory Bible Church in Source-Matelas, north of Port-au-Prince—which grew from 150 a few months before the earthquake to 750 after. Tom is also founder of Jesus in Haiti Ministries. Several EFCA members serve on his board and connected Tom with the crisis-response team.

Pastor Henoc Lucien shepherds three EFCA churches in the north of Haiti, and he and his brothers made multiple trips into Port-au-Prince immediately following the quake: six-plus hours each way on barely passable roads, rescuing friends and family members. Pastor Henoc has also hosted multiple medical volunteers in his home.

Vehicle rides in Haiti are an experience. Here, Paolau Garcon helps keep supplies in the back of the truck—valuable medical supplies that Pastor Henoc Lucien is transporting to a hospital in north Haiti. The hospital took in hundreds of those injured in the earthquake, many having been evacuated on Navy choppers as critical cases.

In the pediatric ward of Hôpital Sacré Coeur, volunteers, children and caregivers gave each other the gift of smiles whenever possible. Here, the team has just changed the dressing on a small boy whose left ear was sheared off almost completely when a ceiling fell on him in the earthquake.

Halsey Julien, above, is a Haitian-American nurse anesthetist from St. Louis, Mo., who initially volunteered a week of his time to serve at Hôpital Sacré Coeur in the north of Haiti. When his co-workers heard of the overwhelming need, they gave up vacation days so Halsey could stay an extra week.

A sad reality of the earthquake was the high number of amputations required after crushing injuries or later infections. Here, volunteers care for a young child’s amputation—including T.R. Lewis (left), a pediatric orthopedic surgeon who attends First EFC of St. Louis County (Mo.).

Cots lined the walls and center of the pediatric ward at Hôpital Sacré Coeur. Not all of the children were fortunate enough to have family members or caregivers with them; several were recently orphaned.

After relief comes recovery. Part of the EFCA’s recovery phase involved establishing a base near Port-au-Prince, from which to assist in long-term rebuilding. Here, ReachGlobal staff members Steve Spellman and Sarah Bennetch unload supplies purchased for the EFCA base house.

Numerous crisis-response members rotated in and out of Haiti. Here, Steve Spellman and others consult about a house 20 miles outside Port-au-Prince that became the long-term base for future teams—including a team of six Brazilians arriving in mid-March from EFC-Brazil.

ReachGlobal staff members Sarah and Brian Bennetch take a break in the house that became the EFCA’s long-term base. The house was virtually undamaged by the earthquake. Still, faced with continuing aftershocks, everyone chose to sleep outside with tarps and mosquito netting rather than under the concrete ceiling. Soon, volunteer teams began building a wooden bunkhouse outside.