More than $34,000 was raised to help Haitian Wesly Guiteau deliver aid to thousands of earthquake survivors.

Mr Guiteau, who works at Willis in Bermuda, rushed back to his homeland after a magnitude-7.0 earthquake hit the Caribbean nation on January 12.

The 39-year-old Pembroke father-of-two made two trips to the country during which he managed to find his missing brother; help save the life of a man buried under rubble for six hours and evacuate survivors from the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Yesterday, his Willis colleague Doug Jones, who coordinated the funding, thanked everyone who participated.

He said: “Your kindness and generosity have directly helped thousands of people and saved a good many lives.”

Mr Guiteau estimated that he delivered goods such as water and hand sanitiser as well as rice, beans, soap and toilet roll to thousands of people.

The donations helped cover the cost of the goods but also the transportation and fuel for trips to and from the Dominican Republic, where the supplies were bought.

His aim was to provide initial assistance to his countrymen while international aid agencies set up.

Although he’d never organised relief efforts before or experienced an earthquake, he believes small-scale initiatives like his can be the most effective in the early stages of a disaster.

“In these cases, it takes very little for us to mobilise and go and do it,” he said. “We have reached at least 10,000 people.”

During the trips Mr Guiteau used $24,000. The rest of the funds were donated to other Haiti focused charities.

Mr Jones explained: “The need for immediate aid lessened as the aid agencies got themselves together and began distributing. But thanks to your generosity we still had about $12,000 left.”

They donated $2,000 to Cornerstone Foundation, a Bermudian charity that continues to provide relief to Haiti.

In August they made their sixth trip, led by dentist Jewel Landy and her two dental assistants, Rubens Philippe and Donreith Dunigen, to provide dental care to those still living in temporary camps.

The remaining $10,142 was donated to Tiffany Keenan of Haiti Village Health.

Dr Keenan is an emergency room physician working at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital in Bermuda; she spends ten weeks a year in Haiti and her charity provides front line medical care.

Mr Jones said: “Initially, the $10,142 was going to be put solely toward the purchase of a truck that would serve as a mobile obstetrics unit.

“However, with the recent advent of cholera in Haiti, the funds have instead been used to help sustain a 24-hour cholera treatment centre for a region of about 25,000 people.”