Hi everyone,

It isn’t often we do this twice in one month, but information is about to be released we thought we should let you know about beforehand.

A Washington consulting firm, LTL Strategies, was hired by USAID to look at the impact of rubble removal programs so people could move back into their homes. To figure out how many people left their homes, the authors wanted to know how many people died and wouldn’t return. This study estimates the January 2010 death toll at no more than 85,000 and as low as 46,000. However, Mark Feierstein of the U.S. Agency for International Development says, “the report is problematic because the authors used statistical sampling that was not representative. The study didn’t include data from heavily damaged areas in Haiti’s countryside or from the number of houses that collapsed and killed people.” These figures are much lower than the commonly cited figure of 316,000, the count we have used many times and the one published by the Haitian Government.

As we have said and written many times since the earthquake, no one will ever know the true figure. Most of the buildings, and especially multi-floor buildings, sit now (17 months after the quake) as they did moments after it happened. No one has ever been the in first floor of many if not most … so how can they have an accurate count? They can’t. This report will do no good in Haiti. Haiti was in a crisis prior to the earthquake, much more of one since, and little has been done to improve it.

Our point is this: this far down the road from January 12, 2010, people are still living in tents. Except for the areas where there are feeding programs, people are starving. And now after days of heavy rains, people are dying from floods and still from cholera, which has again reared its ugly head and has already killed over 5000 people. Lets concentrate on that.

To us, the number of those who died is a moot point. The important thing is that many died, many homes were destroyed, many were and still are in need. You have responded to help in the areas of the country where we work, and those people are eternally grateful for the sacrifices you make for them.

Serving HIM together,

Steve and Terry

(Parts of this were taken from a report written by Trenton Daniel of the AP.)