As the rains increase, people living under old sheets and scraps of plastic face a dilemma. They can stay outside and try not to get soaked, or seek shelter in earthquake-damaged homes and buildings that are ready to collapse. Sickness brought on by exposure and the spread of disease are also major concerns.
"Sometimes it rains all day and all week," said Jean Francois, a man who lost his home in the earthquake. "People have no place to go."
A group of five brothers and sisters were playing among piles of wet clothing and soaked mattresses beside a battered shelter in a camp outside Port-au-Prince. Last night's rain flooded their home.
"It was loud and we were afraid," said 11-year-old Christela, who was babysitting while her parents were away, looking for work. "We were up all night, trying to keep the water away. It was wet and cold."
The scene highlighted the critical need for shelter across Haiti. Samaritan's Purse is responding by creating family shelters that can be erected quickly, but are sturdy enough to withstand the wind and rain.
The shelters have a wood frame and a corrugated metal roof, with the outside walls covered with heavy duty plastic sheeting. Each shelter can house a family of 10. Shelters for 7,500 families are being built in areas devastated by the quake.
A 56-home community has been built in Titanyen, providing a safe and dry place to live for some of the area's hardest hit families.
Before she moved into the Samaritan's Purse shelter, a young mother named Claudia and her family were living under a flimsy tent made of old sheets and blankets.
"We would have gotten soaked because we had nowhere else to go," she said, looking at her 10-month-old son in her arms and thinking about the recent downpour. "Last night, we didn't get wet at all."
A few doors away, Ziliane and her 9-year-old grandson, Rivaldo, set outside in the shade of their new home, saying hello to neighbors. Ziliane said she was grateful to God for the shelter.
Read more: http://samaritanspurse.dms-au.com/2010/04/21/shelter-from-the-storm/