International Disaster Relief: The Haiti Experience

On January 12, 2010, a routine trip to Haiti for a pediatric tropical medicine elective with pediatric residents turned into a disaster response mission. I was accompanied by 6 pediatric residents and 1 nurse, and we were among the first nonmilitary physicians to enter Haiti after the earthquake. This article describes our experience upon arriving in Port-au-Prince, 80 hours after the earthquake. This experience solidified my belief that “children are not little adults” and that the needs of children in a disaster are different than those of adults. The presence of pediatricians in a disaster is vital to the survival of the children.