Convoy of Hope relief center operational

Convoy of Hope's Kevin Rose took this picture in Port-au-Prince of the rubble left behind after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck near Haiti's capital city on Tuesday.

Although no one could have predicted the massive earthquake that struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Tuesday, the Convoy of Hope was miraculously prepared for the event.

According to Jeff Nene, Convoy of Hope's senior director of communications and technology, Kevin Rose, the Convoy of Hope country director for Haiti, was in Haiti when the earthquake struck. Also, Convoy of Hope feeds about 7,000 children in Haiti every day - meaning they have to have a warehouse in Haiti full of food, water and other supplies in order meet that huge daily demand.

"We had just restocked the warehouse," Nene says, "and we had people on the ground when the earthquake struck. Kevin immediately began setting up operational headquarters - and our relief distribution center (located just outside Port-au-Prince) is already open and helping people.

"Some people may call this a coincidence," Nene continues, "we call it Holy Spirit intervention."

Yet even with the relief available, Nene says that when he spoke to Rose earlier this morning, the news is very grim. "His statement was, 'this is the worst I've ever seen - Port-au-Prince is nearly leveled.' The city is built on hills," Nene explains, "so, when one building comes down, it takes others [below it] with it."

Nene says that currently Convoy is preparing to ship in additional containers of supplies to the Dominican Republic and then transport the supplies by truck to Port-au-Prince. "Right now, we're being told the Port-au-Prince harbor will be closed for at least 30 days," Nene says. "Going through the Dominican Republic will be more expensive, but faster."

Currently, Convoy of Hope has a team of about 10 members on the way to Haiti to evaluate the damage, access the need and assist in the relief effort.

One of the areas Nene is concerned about is restocking the warehouse. "We still have 7,000 children to feed every day," he says. "We need funding to help replace those supplies."

Nene says he can't be sure how long Convoy of Hope will be in Haiti providing relief, but adds "for a small crisis, we're often only in a place a few days, but with Katrina, as an example, we were there for two years."

For more information about Convoy of Hope and how to support its relief efforts in Haiti, see ConvoyofHope.org. To give directly through Assemblies of God Relief, click here.