Devestation in Haiti

[bcholmes]

So I've learned a few things from people here about the storm/hurricane damage here. First up, it appears that basically everywhere other than Pòtoprens has been affected. In terms of deaths, Gonayiv has been hit the worst, with hundreds dead and many people's homes under water. It's also essentially inaccessible.

Paul Farmer has written:

I am writing from Mirebalais, the place where our organization was born, having just returned from Gonaïves—perhaps the city hit hardest by Hurricane Hanna, which, hard on the heels of Fay and Gustav, drenched the deforested mountains of Haiti and led to massive flooding and mudslides in northern and central Haiti. A friend of mine said this morning: "I am 61 years old, born and raised in Hinche. I have never seen it under water."

[...]

The need is of course enormous. After 25 years spent working in Haiti and having grown up in Florida, I can honestly say that I have never seen anything as painful as what I just witnessed in Gonaïves -- except in that very same city, four years ago. Again, you know that 2004 was an especially brutal year, and those who work with PIH know why: the coup in Haiti and what would become Hurricane Jeanne. Everyone knows that Katrina killed 1500 in New Orleans and on the Gulf Coast, but very few outside of our circles know that what was then Tropical Storm Jeanne, which did not even make landfall in Haiti, killed an estimated 2000 in Gonaïves alone.

What's become more clear is that in addition to the immediate needs, the storms are going to result in a longer-term food crisis. Several crops have been lost: rice to the north, plaintains in Jakmèl, etc. The effect will continue for months, and Haiti was already feeling the pinch of rising food prices.

(I fear a political element of this, as well. The previous Prime Minister, Alexis, was ousted last May when the senate seized on food riots as an excuse to force his resignation. For the last several months, Haiti has been running without a functioning government and they've only just now agreed on new ministers to run the government. What a time to be without a government!)

I brought a lot of stuff with me; school supplies, kids clothes, over-the-counter medication. Much of this stuff is being sent to Jakmèl as emergency supplies.

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[ardasiril.livejournal.com]

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P-a-P was affected but not as badly. Of the 14 houses in Fifi's lakou 12 are going to have to be torn down; only her room and the peristil were not flooded out entirely (they're out near the football stadium and the palace). I'm told the lower areas did worse, but this was mostly Gustav. I think Gonayiv got it by all three, no?

Love you, be safe, and love to everybody from us here in Chicago.