Rick Perera
January 17, 2010 – 5 p.m.
Its name, Hôpital La Paix, means Peace — but this massively overflowing hospital is anything but peaceful. The largest medical facility still standing in devastated Port au Prince, La Paix is beyond overflowing with critically injured people.
The parking lot in front of the two-story concrete building is packed with the wounded, lying on mattresses or bed frames (no one gets both), on blankets, on the sparse grass, even on the bare sidewalk, under a brutally hot sun. A handful have someone leaning over them, offering at least some comfort, maybe holding up an IV drip bag. But many lie alone. Virtually everyone in this beleaguered city lost someone – some have lost their whole families.
Those who can walk, mass at the front door, waiting their turn as two volunteers hold a rope to control who enters. The doormen step aside automatically when they see a foreign face: anyone who might help somehow is welcome here. Stretcher bearers push their way past, shouting, "Excusez! Excusez!" Two men carry a grimacing woman, shoving a desk as a makeshift gurney. The line parts to allow a body bag through.
Emergency staff, from Cuban doctors to Catalonion EMTs, cluster inside the door. Most are doing what they can to alleviate suffering, but with little overall coordination. Some who've just arrived are sitting and chatting while they await instructions; a group of French firefighters poses for a photo. After an immediate assessment, patients wait, propped against the walls and lying on the floors, for treatment. Some have notes with a brief diagnosis, scribbled on notebook paper in Spanish, taped onto their chests.
CARE's director of health programming, Dr. Franck Geneus, makes his way to the hospital's administrative office. He speaks briefly with a nun who knows something of the situation there – but no one is really in charge. Our mission here, to provide chemicals to make water safe to drink, will have to wait: if we distribute the materials now, they will most likely simply be lost in the chaos. We must focus our efforts where they will be effective.
Deeper inside the gloomy, unlit hospital, beds line the hallways around a courtyard. Most of the patients, some of them half naked, lie silent, too exhausted to moan. The stench of death is all around. "You never get that out of your clothes. You have to throw them away," says my colleague Evelyn, a photographer who has worked with CARE from Darfur to the Democratic Republic of Congo. She gives a wry shrug.
But Evelyn is not a hardened cynic. A few minutes later she emerges from the makeshift ward, her eyes filled with tears. She has watched an elderly Spanish nun giving last rites to a man who can't speak. He can move a leg, and when the good sister asks him tenderly if he understands he is going to die, he signals yes. As Evelyn recounts the story, we look back to where the man still lies. A blue sheet has been pulled up over his head.
He had massive internal injuries and had lost so much blood, she tells us in a gentle voice. There was no way he could survive. "Estaba listo. Estaba en paz." He was ready. He was at peace.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Aid distribution starts in Leogane.
Update from Patrick Solomon, Senior Vice-President, Global Support Services CARE USA,
January 19, 2010
Distribution has started in Leogane. It is working in an orderly fashion primarily because of the pre work done by CARE staff to engage the mayor and others in the community. This morning we had lengthy discussions with the community's leadership and then the logistics committee. They wanted to be very involved and came up with their own plan for distribution.
The distribution took place in the driveway of a telecom building that is now being occupied by the municipal authorities because their building was destroyed. There was great collaboration between the community (including girl and boy scouts) and CARE.
The community leaders delivered chits to the participants in camps. When ready, the people from the camps came to the building and were escorted to the truck by the scouts where the distribution took place. They gave the chits to the CARE staff working with the community team including the scouts. The chit was then marked with whatever item they received so they couldn't get duplicate items. When they received the items, they were escorted to an exit away from the entrance which helped with crowd control.
The people who received the items for their households did not appear malnourished or severely hurt but they were some people who needed extra support to walk by the scouts. The people who came were the representatives from the households. Several people who came had some type of cream around their noses to most likely prevent them from smelling the stench.
They all seemed very appreciative of the support they were receiving from CARE. This was an excellent example of CARE partnering with the community. Today we started distributing 1,500 jerry cans and 1,200 hygiene kits. We also solidified plans to install three water bladders tomorrow. We plan to continue to focus on this community and also increase our distribution of items there.
On the way to Leogane this morning, we saw dead bodies that were not there when we passed yesterday. This was a harsh reminder of the tragic outcome of the earthquake and the fact that so many people have not yet been recovered. Just before our distribution, I visited the distribution nearby by another organization. Unlike ours, they were using armed UN peacekeepers to keep order. That said, while the tensions were slightly elevated, I didn't see any problems.
January 19, 2010
Distribution has started in Leogane. It is working in an orderly fashion primarily because of the pre work done by CARE staff to engage the mayor and others in the community. This morning we had lengthy discussions with the community's leadership and then the logistics committee. They wanted to be very involved and came up with their own plan for distribution.
The distribution took place in the driveway of a telecom building that is now being occupied by the municipal authorities because their building was destroyed. There was great collaboration between the community (including girl and boy scouts) and CARE.
The community leaders delivered chits to the participants in camps. When ready, the people from the camps came to the building and were escorted to the truck by the scouts where the distribution took place. They gave the chits to the CARE staff working with the community team including the scouts. The chit was then marked with whatever item they received so they couldn't get duplicate items. When they received the items, they were escorted to an exit away from the entrance which helped with crowd control.
The people who received the items for their households did not appear malnourished or severely hurt but they were some people who needed extra support to walk by the scouts. The people who came were the representatives from the households. Several people who came had some type of cream around their noses to most likely prevent them from smelling the stench.
They all seemed very appreciative of the support they were receiving from CARE. This was an excellent example of CARE partnering with the community. Today we started distributing 1,500 jerry cans and 1,200 hygiene kits. We also solidified plans to install three water bladders tomorrow. We plan to continue to focus on this community and also increase our distribution of items there.
On the way to Leogane this morning, we saw dead bodies that were not there when we passed yesterday. This was a harsh reminder of the tragic outcome of the earthquake and the fact that so many people have not yet been recovered. Just before our distribution, I visited the distribution nearby by another organization. Unlike ours, they were using armed UN peacekeepers to keep order. That said, while the tensions were slightly elevated, I didn't see any problems.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Working hand in hand with authorities and local communities
Loetitia Raymond
CARE Haiti
Port-au-Prince - January 18, 2010
Only a few days ago, Saint-Pierre square was famous for its amateur painters displaying their hundreds of colourful frames all over the place. All this has now disappeared and left a faded tableau of sad colours instead, those of thousands of homeless people crammed within a few hundreds of square metres.
Tents, makeshift cardboard mattresses, clothes drying in the trees, children, teenagers, youngsters, and the elderly, 6,000 people altogether have gathered in the square. Although 3,000 homeless on the site was a first rough estimate, hundreds more keep coming in everyday.
Claire Lydie Parent, mayor of Pétionville, whom we are meeting this morning to offer our support, explains the situation: “People are scared, they hear tsunami rumours, they fear another earthquake, making those who still have a home run away at times.”
CARE emergency workers Audrée Montpetit and Gary Philoctète came to help this community, which has demonstrated a real determination to help meet to their own needs. We are aiming to implement solutions in coordination with local authorities who have already started to clear away the garbage piles. Evacuating the waste is our top priority, in order to avoid any sanitary risk.
“We also need tools to work properly, especially masks and shovels. We could have all the good intentions in the world, but bare hands alone won’t be enough,” says Ms. Lydie Parent.
We will also need to train teams of volunteers living on the site to implement the work. We are also training hygiene awareness teams to prevent diseases caused by ling in such conditions. Involving the people affecting by the quake is crucial as they drop their status of victim to taking charge and being involved in their own recovery. From this perspective, Ms. Lydie Parent stresses the importance of psychological support as most people do not realise what happened, what an earthquake means, and how everyone needs to rationalise what took place to avoid frenzied crowd situations.
We have then agreed to start distributing wheelbarrows, brooms and shovels. We will also install a water tank as, like all city dwellers, they lack water. When?
Our meeting has lasted less than 30 minutes, enough to allow us all to identify needs. Equipment will be delivered tomorrow and work will start right away!
CARE Haiti
Port-au-Prince - January 18, 2010
Only a few days ago, Saint-Pierre square was famous for its amateur painters displaying their hundreds of colourful frames all over the place. All this has now disappeared and left a faded tableau of sad colours instead, those of thousands of homeless people crammed within a few hundreds of square metres.
Tents, makeshift cardboard mattresses, clothes drying in the trees, children, teenagers, youngsters, and the elderly, 6,000 people altogether have gathered in the square. Although 3,000 homeless on the site was a first rough estimate, hundreds more keep coming in everyday.
Claire Lydie Parent, mayor of Pétionville, whom we are meeting this morning to offer our support, explains the situation: “People are scared, they hear tsunami rumours, they fear another earthquake, making those who still have a home run away at times.”
CARE emergency workers Audrée Montpetit and Gary Philoctète came to help this community, which has demonstrated a real determination to help meet to their own needs. We are aiming to implement solutions in coordination with local authorities who have already started to clear away the garbage piles. Evacuating the waste is our top priority, in order to avoid any sanitary risk.
“We also need tools to work properly, especially masks and shovels. We could have all the good intentions in the world, but bare hands alone won’t be enough,” says Ms. Lydie Parent.
We will also need to train teams of volunteers living on the site to implement the work. We are also training hygiene awareness teams to prevent diseases caused by ling in such conditions. Involving the people affecting by the quake is crucial as they drop their status of victim to taking charge and being involved in their own recovery. From this perspective, Ms. Lydie Parent stresses the importance of psychological support as most people do not realise what happened, what an earthquake means, and how everyone needs to rationalise what took place to avoid frenzied crowd situations.
We have then agreed to start distributing wheelbarrows, brooms and shovels. We will also install a water tank as, like all city dwellers, they lack water. When?
Our meeting has lasted less than 30 minutes, enough to allow us all to identify needs. Equipment will be delivered tomorrow and work will start right away!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
"Desperation at our gates"
Rick Perera, Emergency team member, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
January. 17, 5:30 p.m.
If charity begins at home, CARE is in the right place. Just outside our Haiti headquarters, many hundreds, perhaps thousands – no one has counted them – of newly homeless people are camped out in the main square of Pétionville, a near suburb of Port au Prince. They wait patiently in the hot sun, but their desperation grows by the hour. At night, groups of people can be heard clapping and chanting. Some have hung banners, painted on bedsheets, with messages like “We need help!” in English and Creole.
As CARE Haiti Country Director Sophie Perez and I walk by, we pass many pedestrians with handkerchiefs tied around their noses and mouths against the overwhelming stench. Waste of all kinds is piling up in the streets around the square. An overflowing garbage truck stands idle. The gutters are clogged with plastic bags, bottles, and objects beyond description. Perez shakes her head when she sees the growing piles. “We urgently need to address the waste disposal issue,” she says. “If that garbage keeps accumulating it will certainly spread disease.”
Over the past few days CARE has been focusing on distributing water purification packets, containing a powder called Pur. It’s highly effective, and can make almost any water safe to drink. But to use it requires two five-gallon (about 20 L) containers – one for dirty water, the other for clean – and the worst-off here don’t even have a bucket to their name. So for many, the magic powder isn’t enough.
“We will distribute the Pur along with hygiene kits in the coming days, packed into large buckets that people can use,” says Sophie. The kits will also contain crucial items, from soap to sanitary napkins, to help survivors stay healthy under these appalling conditions.
In the meantime, CARE is working to arrange for a tanker truck to bring water to the square outside our gates, and a huge rubber “bladder” to store it. There’s so much to do everywhere in this city, but we won’t forget to serve our neighbors in need.
January. 17, 5:30 p.m.
If charity begins at home, CARE is in the right place. Just outside our Haiti headquarters, many hundreds, perhaps thousands – no one has counted them – of newly homeless people are camped out in the main square of Pétionville, a near suburb of Port au Prince. They wait patiently in the hot sun, but their desperation grows by the hour. At night, groups of people can be heard clapping and chanting. Some have hung banners, painted on bedsheets, with messages like “We need help!” in English and Creole.
As CARE Haiti Country Director Sophie Perez and I walk by, we pass many pedestrians with handkerchiefs tied around their noses and mouths against the overwhelming stench. Waste of all kinds is piling up in the streets around the square. An overflowing garbage truck stands idle. The gutters are clogged with plastic bags, bottles, and objects beyond description. Perez shakes her head when she sees the growing piles. “We urgently need to address the waste disposal issue,” she says. “If that garbage keeps accumulating it will certainly spread disease.”
Over the past few days CARE has been focusing on distributing water purification packets, containing a powder called Pur. It’s highly effective, and can make almost any water safe to drink. But to use it requires two five-gallon (about 20 L) containers – one for dirty water, the other for clean – and the worst-off here don’t even have a bucket to their name. So for many, the magic powder isn’t enough.
“We will distribute the Pur along with hygiene kits in the coming days, packed into large buckets that people can use,” says Sophie. The kits will also contain crucial items, from soap to sanitary napkins, to help survivors stay healthy under these appalling conditions.
In the meantime, CARE is working to arrange for a tanker truck to bring water to the square outside our gates, and a huge rubber “bladder” to store it. There’s so much to do everywhere in this city, but we won’t forget to serve our neighbors in need.
Is aid getting there?
Rick Perera, Emergency team member
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
January 17, 2010
I keep hearing the same question from journalists: why isn’t aid getting to these desperate people faster? The answer is: aid workers are moving as fast as they can, but the conditions are grim. Haiti has never seen a catastrophe of this magnitude in modern times; it was already desperately poor to begin with; and in the aftermath of so many disasters in recent years, the people and infrastructure were utterly unprepared to cope.
“It’s always very difficult in the first few days,” says CARE Haiti Country Director Sophie Perez, who has worked on multiple relief efforts in Haiti, including the aftermath of hurricanes and political unrest. “It’s important not just to get it fast, but to get it right. If we just hand out material without the proper organization, it can result in chaos, violence, and loss of life.”
Sophie is confident that, with enough resources and coordination, CARE and other humanitarian actors will be able to reach those in need with urgent help. But she’s concerned about the longer term. “What will happen when the media attention turns away?” It will take years for Haitians to recover – and they will need much support if they are to build back better, instead of recreating conditions leaving them vulnerable to future disasters.
Reconstruction means not just rebuilding infrastructure, she adds – but addressing the underlying causes of poverty, from poor governance to education to environmental degradation. CARE has been working in Haiti since 1954, and is committed to staying as long as we’re needed.
“The longer term will cost a thousand times more than the immediate relief,” she says. “I sincerely hope the world won’t forget Haiti once the initial attention fades.”
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
January 17, 2010
I keep hearing the same question from journalists: why isn’t aid getting to these desperate people faster? The answer is: aid workers are moving as fast as they can, but the conditions are grim. Haiti has never seen a catastrophe of this magnitude in modern times; it was already desperately poor to begin with; and in the aftermath of so many disasters in recent years, the people and infrastructure were utterly unprepared to cope.
“It’s always very difficult in the first few days,” says CARE Haiti Country Director Sophie Perez, who has worked on multiple relief efforts in Haiti, including the aftermath of hurricanes and political unrest. “It’s important not just to get it fast, but to get it right. If we just hand out material without the proper organization, it can result in chaos, violence, and loss of life.”
Sophie is confident that, with enough resources and coordination, CARE and other humanitarian actors will be able to reach those in need with urgent help. But she’s concerned about the longer term. “What will happen when the media attention turns away?” It will take years for Haitians to recover – and they will need much support if they are to build back better, instead of recreating conditions leaving them vulnerable to future disasters.
Reconstruction means not just rebuilding infrastructure, she adds – but addressing the underlying causes of poverty, from poor governance to education to environmental degradation. CARE has been working in Haiti since 1954, and is committed to staying as long as we’re needed.
“The longer term will cost a thousand times more than the immediate relief,” she says. “I sincerely hope the world won’t forget Haiti once the initial attention fades.”
Getting safe water to thousands
Rick Perera, Emergency team member, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Jan. 16, 11 a.m. as CARE convoy heads through streets of Port-au-Prince, to distribute water purification supplies
I’m with a convoy of three CARE vehicles carrying water purification supplies form the airport to three different points of distribution.
The water mains are broken in some places and people are washing their clothes in the gutters. I can only imagine people are also drinking that water, which is really dangerous.
We have enough purification packets with us right now to provide 75,000 people with 3 liters of clean water a day for 10 days. The powder comes in ketchup-like packets. You add the powder to containers of water, let it stand for five minutes and then use a filter to strain the solids out. Any piece of cloth will do.
Shortly we’ll be distributing them at the La Paix Hospital, the General Hospital and a medical facility whose French name translates as “Little Brothers and Sisters.” It might take up to three hours to do the distribution. Other agencies are giving out supplies at these locations, too. We have heard that it’s an orderly situation, as there are multinational U.N. troops providing security for the distributions.
Jan. 16, 11 a.m. as CARE convoy heads through streets of Port-au-Prince, to distribute water purification supplies
I’m with a convoy of three CARE vehicles carrying water purification supplies form the airport to three different points of distribution.
The water mains are broken in some places and people are washing their clothes in the gutters. I can only imagine people are also drinking that water, which is really dangerous.
We have enough purification packets with us right now to provide 75,000 people with 3 liters of clean water a day for 10 days. The powder comes in ketchup-like packets. You add the powder to containers of water, let it stand for five minutes and then use a filter to strain the solids out. Any piece of cloth will do.
Shortly we’ll be distributing them at the La Paix Hospital, the General Hospital and a medical facility whose French name translates as “Little Brothers and Sisters.” It might take up to three hours to do the distribution. Other agencies are giving out supplies at these locations, too. We have heard that it’s an orderly situation, as there are multinational U.N. troops providing security for the distributions.
Friday, January 15, 2010
“People are desperate for help”
Hauke Hoops, Regional Emergency Coordinator
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
January 15, 2010 - 9 a.m. local time
This is one of the biggest disasters I’ve ever seen, and it is a huge logistical challenge. Everything has to come in by plane or boat, but the port is destroyed. The airport is overstretched, overcrowded with flights.
Security is a huge concern. The jail collapsed, and there are 5,000 inmates on the loose. This has caused a lot of fear. It is very dangerous, with repeated aftershocks, and the escaped people from the jail. There are rising tensions. We need to distribute as quickly as possible, but this is a difficult situation to guarantee safety and organize distribution. People have been without food for two days now, and they are starting to get desperate. In this situation, people will do anything to get food and water for their families.
We have 133 staff already working in Haiti, but our staff in Port-au-Prince lost everything – their houses, their families, everything. Staff are totally traumatized. They’re trying to help, but we need to bring in additional staff from across the country and international teams. We’ve seen this before, where staff have lost family members, they are trying to control their own emotions, take care of their families, and at the same time, respond to a massive disaster. You can imagine how difficult this is, if you’ve lost your children, but there is so much work to do and everyone needs help. It’s a nightmare.
There are lots of people in the streets trying to find relief. There is rubble everywhere. Buildings collapsed like a house of cards. I see many people trying to find people in the rubble, underneath the buildings. There are many search and rescue teams coming in, but it’s not enough. The people are doing a lot of the rescue by themselves, pulling at the rubble with their bare hands or with shovels. They are listening to see if they can hear people yelling for help. There are fewer people yelling for help now. There are so many places to look, so many houses collapsed, but the search and rescue teams can’t be everywhere at once.
There are bodies on the street, bodies everywhere. I passed by bodies in the streets. People are walking by them, it’s as if they are sleeping. It’s scary. There are dead bodies lined up in rows. Our main priority now is to clear the bodies. There is a fear of outbreak of disease because of the open wounds being left untreated, and lack of sanitation. There is rubbish everywhere.
People need clean drinking water. The water system wasn’t completely destroyed. Pipes were broken in the earthquake, but there is some water coming out. People are lining up at the areas where water is coming out. So there is some access but it’s not clean water, the pipes have been contaminated. Water purification tablets are very important. CARE has a shipment of water purification tablets that arrived last night, and we need to distribute these right away. We need more water purification tablets.
There is still production of electricity, but they can’t turn the power back on because the power lines are down, there are electrical wires in the streets, and people are stepping over them. If they turn the electricity back on now, people might be electrocuted or injured.
There is an issue of access. We can’t reach all areas by road. It is difficult to get any trucks; either they are without fuel because the gas stations are empty. There is nothing available here.
There is a huge amount of people in need, but my fear is now how we’re going to get to them all. Also we have to do this quickly, to organize with other aid agencies and the government to reach people faster. People are desperate for help, for food, for water.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
January 15, 2010 - 9 a.m. local time
This is one of the biggest disasters I’ve ever seen, and it is a huge logistical challenge. Everything has to come in by plane or boat, but the port is destroyed. The airport is overstretched, overcrowded with flights.
Security is a huge concern. The jail collapsed, and there are 5,000 inmates on the loose. This has caused a lot of fear. It is very dangerous, with repeated aftershocks, and the escaped people from the jail. There are rising tensions. We need to distribute as quickly as possible, but this is a difficult situation to guarantee safety and organize distribution. People have been without food for two days now, and they are starting to get desperate. In this situation, people will do anything to get food and water for their families.
We have 133 staff already working in Haiti, but our staff in Port-au-Prince lost everything – their houses, their families, everything. Staff are totally traumatized. They’re trying to help, but we need to bring in additional staff from across the country and international teams. We’ve seen this before, where staff have lost family members, they are trying to control their own emotions, take care of their families, and at the same time, respond to a massive disaster. You can imagine how difficult this is, if you’ve lost your children, but there is so much work to do and everyone needs help. It’s a nightmare.
There are lots of people in the streets trying to find relief. There is rubble everywhere. Buildings collapsed like a house of cards. I see many people trying to find people in the rubble, underneath the buildings. There are many search and rescue teams coming in, but it’s not enough. The people are doing a lot of the rescue by themselves, pulling at the rubble with their bare hands or with shovels. They are listening to see if they can hear people yelling for help. There are fewer people yelling for help now. There are so many places to look, so many houses collapsed, but the search and rescue teams can’t be everywhere at once.
There are bodies on the street, bodies everywhere. I passed by bodies in the streets. People are walking by them, it’s as if they are sleeping. It’s scary. There are dead bodies lined up in rows. Our main priority now is to clear the bodies. There is a fear of outbreak of disease because of the open wounds being left untreated, and lack of sanitation. There is rubbish everywhere.
People need clean drinking water. The water system wasn’t completely destroyed. Pipes were broken in the earthquake, but there is some water coming out. People are lining up at the areas where water is coming out. So there is some access but it’s not clean water, the pipes have been contaminated. Water purification tablets are very important. CARE has a shipment of water purification tablets that arrived last night, and we need to distribute these right away. We need more water purification tablets.
There is still production of electricity, but they can’t turn the power back on because the power lines are down, there are electrical wires in the streets, and people are stepping over them. If they turn the electricity back on now, people might be electrocuted or injured.
There is an issue of access. We can’t reach all areas by road. It is difficult to get any trucks; either they are without fuel because the gas stations are empty. There is nothing available here.
There is a huge amount of people in need, but my fear is now how we’re going to get to them all. Also we have to do this quickly, to organize with other aid agencies and the government to reach people faster. People are desperate for help, for food, for water.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)