Haiti Earthquake: Three Years Later

By   •   January 11, 2011

Three years after Haiti’s most horrifying natural disaster, seeds of hope are evident across the battered nation where an earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010, left more than 300,000 dead and some 1.5 million homeless in its capital and surrounding cities.

“While serving the Haitian people since the earthquake, Rapid Response Team chaplains found an unprecedented hunger for Jesus Christ as we shared His hope and comfort with thousands of hurting people,” said Jack Munday, director of the Rapid Response Team.

More than 120 chaplains ministered in the impoverished nation during the nearly two-year-long endeavor, and those trained chaplains prayed with and comforted 35,420 Haitians and relief workers. Individual chaplains typically spent two to six weeks at a time in the country before rotating out.

“We have witnessed the best and the worst that this world has to offer as we’ve ministered in Haiti,” said Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse. “We’ve seen pain and grief on an unimaginably massive scale, and we’ve seen beauty, hope and joy in the spirits of the Haitian people that defies all explanation in the midst of such a hard place.”

Please remember those who lost someone they loved three years ago, those who are living with injuries, those who lost homes, and those who accepted Christ at the January 2011 Festival of Hope, during the My Hope project in July 2011, and through The Greatest Journey.


Top Articles & Milestones – A Timeline of Ministry

A Miracle Moose & Other Memories of Haiti
One Rapid Response Team chaplain who served in Haiti during 2011 shares a powerful story of God’s healing hand in the lives of a family touched by tragedy.
Read more »

Experiencing Haiti in Denver and Milwaukee
Scores of people in Milwaukee and Denver poured into an interactive display during Rock the Lakes and Rock the Range, where they “experienced” how BGEA ministered in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
Read more »

‘A New Spiritual Haiti Is Being Built’
With the full impact of My Hope Haiti not known for years, tens of thousands of decisions for Christ were registered about the My Hope broadcast reached the nation through TV, radio and projectors.
Read more »

Thousands in Haiti Embark on The Greatest Journey
In June 2011, more than 10,000 children throughout Haiti graduated from OCC’s discipleship course, The Greatest Journey. We visited one ceremony in Port-au-Prince and learned firsthand how this program is making a difference in the lives of children.
Read more »

Franklin Graham Shares God’s Love in Haiti

The first year of BGEA’s ministry in Haiti culminated in a Festival of Hope, January 8-9, 2011. People came by the tens of thousands—hungry for hope after a year filled with death, devastation and illness—and they did not leave empty. On a hot Sunday afternoon in Port-au-Prince, scores of Haitians were filled with the love of Christ during the Festival of Hope with Franklin Graham.
Read more »

They Saw Christ in Her
When Rapid Response Team chaplain Toni New began snapping photos Oct. 26 in a Haitian clinic, the lonely people basked in the attention and broke into wide smiles. Toni asked Ricardo, a translator, to ask if the group of eight would like prayer.
Read more »

A Long-Term Commitment in Haiti
The work of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association continued in Haiti with the Rapid Response Team as pastors are being trained to continue the work of chaplains. However, the ministry didn’t end there.  Read more »

Investing in the Haitian Church
At the prompting of the Baptist Haiti Mission (BHM), a ministry partner in Haiti, the Rapid Response Team developed and delivered grief ministry training for 80 local churches. The training was so successful that members of the Christian Evangelical Association of Haiti invited them back to train Christian leadership.
Read more »

A New Spirit Is Rising in Haiti
Chaplains report that four months after the 7.0 earthquake reduced much of Haiti to rubble, not only had the landscape been altered, but its people have been forever changed.
Read more »

One Chaplain’s Easter Reflections
In spite of being far from home, Rapid Response Team chaplains Jim and Sandy Giannestras consider the Easter of 2010 the best they have ever experienced. The joy and worship of the Haitian people—in the aftermath of tragedy—blessed the couple beyond measure.
Read more »

Josh Havens on Haiti, Loss and Hope
We caught up with Josh Havens, lead singer for The Afters, as the band got ready to head into the studio to work on a special project. During our interview, Havens talked about his participation in Healing4Haiti and his recent visit to the island.
Read more »

Franklin Graham Visits Haiti
“This is one of the largest disaster responses in our history,” said Franklin Graham during a February 2010 visit. “The situation in Haiti will be dreadful for a long time, and we intend to be there.”
Read more »

Eyewitness to Grief and Glory
Keith Stiles choked back tears as he shared the agony of serving in Haiti. But this Rapid Response Team chaplain was even more moved by seeing the glory and strength of God visible in the people he met.
Read more »

Personal Messages from Haiti
A first-person account of the heart-wrenching days that BGEA staff writer Jeremy Hunt spent with the Rapid Response Team and Samaritan’s Purse just after the earthquake hit in January 2010.
Read more »