The New Dark Age

16 January, 2010 — Konbit Pou Ayiti/KONPAY – Working Together for Haiti

Three nights ago a nightmare we hadn’t imagined possible began in Haiti. Like any shocking and horrifying tragedy, we will all remember and tell stories of where we were when we heard about the 7.0 earthquake that shattered Haiti on January 12, 2010. Haiti KONPAY has been playing a critical role coordinating a rapid response to the crisis in both Jacmel and Port-au-Prince. We are currently coordinating efforts to identify and assess needs and also working out logistics to get much needed human and materials resources onto the ground.

Through collaboration with several key partners in the U.S. we are working with a pool of qualified medical professionals and interpreters prepared to travel to Haiti. Beyond Borders is creating a database of potential volunteers and vetting applicants. We are also receiving many helpful offers and are coordinating a team of volunteers following up on the most promising of these. We have outlined a comprehensive rapid response strategy and are contacting other major organizations to share ideas and encourage collaboration. We are seeking meetings with USAID, the UN, the Clintons and others tasked with coordinating international response to share the ideas generated by dozens of smaller NGOs with decades of Haiti experience who are currently working together to carry out immediate response on the ground.

We are pursuing two major strategies right now:

1. Delivering immediate support to people on the ground in Jacmel and Port-au-Prince by coordinating the transport of supplies and volunteers. Carefully design volunteer interventions to avoid exacerbating the developing food and water shortages.

2. Encouraging the evacuation of Port-au-Prince and establishing the resources necessary to assist victims when they arrive in the countryside by assessing existing resources in outlying areas and sending teams and equipment to clinics. Coordinating with Americans living in lesser-affected areas to support with transport vehicles and coordination of volunteers in the field.

Below find reports on the efforts underway with partners in Jacmel and Port-au-Prince, a second email includes the most recent report from Amber Munger on the ground in Port-au-Prince.

JACMEL

Out today from the UN in Jacmel these are some details of the damage in Jacmel, which is a city of 34,000:

· 1,785 homes completely destroyed
· 4410 homes partially destroyed
· 87 commercial businesses destroyed
· 54 schools destroyed
· 24 hotels destroyed
· 26 churches destroyed
· 5730 families displaced
· Death count approaching 3,000, nearly 10% of the population (Reported by Gwenn Mangine, www.mangine.org)

We have received a number of reports listing major buildings in Jacmel which collapsed, including: the La Trinite school, Interfamilia school, half of the primary section at the Alcibiade school and cultural center, part of the hospital and many other buildings.

KONPAY Co-Founder Joe Duplan is on the ground in Jacmel and is part of a coordination team with Guerda Placide of Fondasyon Limyè Lavi. FLL’s sister organization is Beyond Borders; Director David Diggs is working closely with Melinda Miles in the U.S. Joe and Guerda spent today making a list of buildings damaged, urgent needs and potential sites to house volunteers and set up clinics and temporary housing. In addition, they met with the Haitian National Police, Fire Chief and Mayor’s office to discuss how to best coordinate and work together to respond to immediate needs.

Obstacles: Jacmel is currently unreachable by land routes due to collapsed areas on the road to Port-au-Prince at Tomb Gateau and St. Etienne. Until yesterday afternoon the runway and airport were filled with people who had fled the ruins of the town, but the UN peacekeepers reportedly have the field clear now for their planes to land, however it is almost impossible for us to get clearance to land there.

We are following several promising leads on getting boats donated in the Dominican Republic or surrounding island nations that can carry our medical professionals and supplies directly to Jacmel. We are currently waiting for clearance from SouthCom to bring in a first team organized by the Community Coalition for Haiti.

PORT-AU-PRINCE

The situation in PAP is growing more desperate by the moment. We are working with Amber Munger who is headquartered at the Matthew 25 Guest House in Delmas 33, where a triage hospital has been set up on the soccer field. In addition, Reed Lindsay, journalist with TeleSur and head of the Honor and Respect Foundation, is on the ground and will be joining Amber tomorrow. Also about to be part of the team are Sasha Kramer of SOIL and Catherine Lainé of Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG). AIDG also has structural engineers on the way.

This team will be coordinating the response in PAP. They will help us get resources – human, material and financial – to where they are needed most. They have immediate needs such as diesel for generators and cash to keep buying food, and in the short-term they need medical supplies, food and other equipment. There is also a need to start digging trenches for temporary burial in the immediate neighborhood.

Reed Lindsay’s text Thursday night:

“The worst may yet to come, if we do not act fast. People are already thirsty, and water, is difficult to find, even to buy. I drove through the entire city today and didn’t see a single aid distribution. Al Jazeera news team told me the same. Streets are normally lined with street food merchants. Now difficult to find any food and it will get worse. Situation desperate but could get catastrophic soon. Thousands are dead, probably tens of thousands. Bodies hauled off in trucks to be buried in common graves, but many bodies still lying on the street and many more in wreckage. It is too late for them. But for those who survived, time is running out. Communities are starting to organize. But they have no resources. Everyone sleeping in streets and plazas parks. They have set up their own refugee camps. Thousands have fled for countryside. But most have nowhere to go.”

Amber Munger, working with KONPAY, reported yesterday:

“In my thirteen years of working in Haiti, not once before have I seen such massive destruction as we are experiencing now. Nor have I seen such motivation, determination, compassion, and solidarity among people. When we entered portoprens after the quake struck, the city had fallen and was continuing to fall as a result of continuous aftershocks. The streets were full of people sitting together. Everyone was sitting in the middle of the roads for fear that the houses would continue to fall on them. They were singing. The whole city was singing. They were singing songs of solidarity. They were singing songs of thanks and praise that they were still able to sing and to be together. These people have lost everything. The city is now a city of refugees. But they are putting their voices together to be thankful.”

Major obstacles are transportation of donations and volunteers. We are working on several angles right now to get supplies either via land from the Dominican Republic, on planes into PAP or on cargo ships possibly via the St. Marc port. Communication remains a serious obstacle to coordinating with other groups on the ground, but Amber is stepping up her efforts to be in touch with other groups offering emergency relief teams.

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