Relief Team Details Devastation, Life Saving in Haiti
"Children with gaping head wounds lay screaming and confused, some had lost motor skills from the blows they had received to their heads. ... We were shocked that so few had received any kind of treatment."
The account by David Darg of Operation Blessing International was recorded Monday, nearly a week after the 7.0-magnitude quake struck Haiti and wreaked havoc on the Caribbean nation.
Relief and humanitarian teams on the ground have been hard at work trying to save lives while at the same time relaying their first-hand accounts to the rest of the world on blogs.
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"Several men came running into the stadium carrying a teenage girl they had just pulled from the rubble. They laid her limp body on a table and we all thought at first she was dead," Darg wrote. "She reeked of death having been buried next to other bodies that were killed instantly in the quake. We rushed her to the Israeli hospital where she underwent surgery, and now, 5 days after the earthquake, she is in stable condition."
"Seeing this miraculous recovery and life saved before my eyes was one of the most profound moments of my life. Just this one life saved has made all the lost sleep, the sweat, the struggle to get here and any other adversity seem more than worthwhile," he added.
"Tomorrow we set up again early in the morning and will continue to save lives and reach out to Haiti."
Operation Blessing, based in Virginia Beach, Va., has teamed up with IsraAid to provide medical relief and attend to the many earthquake victims who remain untreated. The relief group set up a clinic in the soccer field where thousands of victims are seeking temporary shelter.
Doctors were not the only ones flowing into Haiti Monday.
Food, water and other supplies have been making their way to the starving Haitians.
The U.S. military flew food and water to a drop zone some five miles northeast of Port-au-Prince and distribution has reportedly begun.
In addition to providing physical relief, Christian ministries are equipping teams on the ground with Scriptures to provide spiritual healing. Faith Comes By Hearing has 600 portable, solar-powered audio Bibles on their way to local pastors and thousands more are being prepared.
"Haitians will need that long-term hope and comfort that comes from knowing God has not forgotten them through this tragedy," said Jon Wilke, the ministry's spokesperson.
The estimated death toll has risen to 200,000 with 1.5 million people homeless. Monetary donations have flooded in to help the already impoverished country. Through text messaging alone, more than $20 million have been raised, according to the Mobile Giving Foundation.
