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Fairfield-Based Save The Children Prepares To Help In Haiti After Hurricane

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield-based Save the Children is deploying an emergency response team to Haiti after Hurricane Matthew slammed into its southern coast Tuesday morning with winds of 145 mph, causing flooding and extensive damage.

Carolyn Miles

Carolyn Miles

Photo Credit: Contributed

The team will work with staff and partners on the ground to help the children and families affected by the Category 4 storm. 

Save the Children pre-positioned a stockpile of non-food items, including hygiene kits, baby items, household kits, mosquito nets and jerry cans, which will be used in the coming days. Additional necessities will be supplied after the response team conducts an initial evaluation on the ground in Haiti.

"Our thoughts and hearts go out to the Haitian people, many of whom had yet to fully recover from the earthquake that devastated the country in 2010," said Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children. "We have worked in Haiti for more than 30 years and will coordinate closely with the Haitian government to help those most affected by the disaster."

Save the Children supports 131 schools in Haiti, including 27 in the area of south Grand'Anse and 39 in Port-au Prince. It also provides technical assistance in water, sanitation and hygiene and newborn health to the Ministry of Health.

"Children are often most vulnerable during disasters such as this," Miles said. "Our emergency response team will be carefully evaluating how we can best help children, including getting them back into school as soon as possible."

Part of Save the Children's emergency response will likely include setting up "child-friendly spaces" at evacuation centers, which will provide children with a safe place to be engaged in educational play with other children, while giving parents a much-needed opportunity to go out and assess the damage.

To support Save the Children's emergency response in Haiti, visit: www.savethechildren.org/Matthew.

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