Haiti Quake Updates

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Outlook has been hearing the stories of some of the children caught up in Haiti's devastating earthquake.

Many have lost family members and friends, and most have lost their homes as well.

Even getting back to school is a major achievement in Haiti, with so many buildings destroyed or badly damaged.

At the Christian Light School in Port-au-Prince, children are now having lessons in tents in the playground.

But some of the children have managed to link up for a satellite phone conversation with pupils from a school in West London.

It is all part of the click BBC School Report News Day, a project which brings together British school children with pupils from around the world.

Outlook's Matthew Bannister spoke to three of the children from the school in Haiti - 15 year-old Djeanice, 14 year-old Francisco and 12 year-old Alex.

Djeanice's grandmother died during the earthquake and Francisco lost his younger brother.

Matthew also spoke to Sherrie Fausey - the principal of the school - who only survived the earthquake because she was standing up rather than sitting down, when it struck.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, 22 February 2010 Sanitation is among the most urgent concerns in Haiti following Januarys earthquake. UNICEF estimates that overall, 1.1 million displaced people require emergency latrines. The agency and its partners plan to install over 10,000 latrines in the short term and another 20,000-plus within six months.

To help achieve this goal, UNICEF has enlisted its non-governmental partner, the Haitian Out-of-School Youth Livelihood Initiative (known by its French acronym, IDEJEN), to construct 1,000 sanitary blocks, which include latrines, showers and handwashing facilities. The initiative has enlisted 1,200 young participants to build the sanitary blocks.

"What you are seeing here is a sanitary block made by IDEJEN youth," she said, pointing to a unit with three latrines, which will also have a hand-washing station and a shower. "We'll take care of everything, in terms of management of the sanitary block, in terms of management of the excreta and in terms of evacuation of used water.

Alexandros Yiannopoulos, Oxfam's coordinator of food security and livelihoods in Haiti, is blogging for Channel 4 News Online.

It is a strange life being a Humanitarian worker.

The funeral of two of Oxfam's workers who died in the earthquake got me to look back over this last month in Haiti. I started to think about the different perspectives people may have of humanitarian workers and what we are doing.

Friends, family and many people I meet believe you are doing something worthwhile - helping save lives and improve the way Haitians live.

"They seem to do a good job"

On the other hand, I remember an interview that was reported on the UN news service IRIN: where an old lady was asked her perspective of aid workers, she said (as far as I can remember) "Yes they seem to do a good job, they claim to help people but all they do is drive around in their 4x4 and don't even give me a lift when I am carrying a heavy load!"

As you see from this statement, we might be seen by the people we have come to help as: wealthy and possibly arrogant driving around in white 4x4s, always in a hurry, never time to stop and listen to each person's issues. Unfortunately sometimes that is the case: often security rules prohibit us from carrying non-staff members; the time pressures of our work in an emergency; and also the fact that we have to been seen as fair to everyone, not showing any sign of favoritism - which is difficult with so many people in need around you.

The conundrum we face

This is part of the conundrum we are here to 'help people' whilst at the same time we are limited by our resources, our rules and the fact we are also human. So we have to make choices between who will receive something and who will not. Even our actions have to be calculated carefully, for example I remember in Sri Lanka we helped a number of shopkeepers with a grant to build a small shop and to buy some goods. This was a great idea however in one area we funded too many shops for the amount of demand, resulting in 2 out of 3 going bankrupt. Even with the best intentions we can still do harm.

There are a number of social and moral pressures that are put on us both by the outside world and by our selves, to the extent that you would feel guilty in going to a restaurant or to the beach on the Sunday to relax. Which is very much a normal thing done by Haitians and people back home. It is a fine line that we tread when living in an urban area where you are living in the 'affected zone', where all groups of people from the poorest to the wealthiest have been affected, and we have come as strangers to help. How do we keep our morale up, in a responsible manner, whilst at the same time surrounded by the consequences of the earthquake?

Taking a step back

Why the funeral got me to think about these issues was because I felt empathy for the loss of two colleagues but at the same time I was alien and a stranger to the two people who died and to the society in Haiti. I am a visitor, and to many, a stranger.

Sometimes when you are in an emergency, trying to get your work done as quickly as possible, you have to take a step back, realize that you are working with fellow human beings and treat them with the level of respect and dignity they deserve. This can be as simple as a greeting, asking how they are or having a chat. At the same time we are not different to anyone else.

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Alexandros Yiannopoulos: Time to think big in Haiti

Oxfam's response to the Haiti earthquake

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When a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, Alexandria, VA, small business owner and Oxfam America donor Danielle Romanetti knew that she wanted to help—and that her friends and neighbors did, too. That’s when she realized she could use her yarn store, Fibre Space, as a means to raise funds for the relief effort.

In the aftermath of the quake, Oxfam moved quickly to provide emergency aid for thousands of affected people. Meanwhile, supporters like Romanetti also took action, organizing dozens of large and small community events to raise funds and awareness about the crisis.

ActionAid has set up a regular feeding programme in Haiti for more than 15,000 people and will reach another 12,000 in the coming days.

ActionAid has been able to roll out the food distributions with its partner COZPAM in six camps in the Mariani area of Port-au-Prince %u2013 one of the poorest areas of the city %u2013 despite the huge logistical challenges.

The food distributions are taking place every two weeks and each family gets enough nutritious food to last until the next delivery. These distributions will continue for at least another two months.

ActionAid Country Director in Haiti, Jean Claude Fignole, said: %u201COur food aid programme has been going for three weeks now and we have also starting giving out blankets and kitchen sets.

%u201CThe process has been with the full participation of the community and we have given extra help to vulnerable groups like pregnant women, the disabled and the elderly. We work with grassroots organisations which is why we have been able to reach people in a dignified way.%u201D

In addition ActionAid will this week begin delivering food aid to 12,000 people in Jacmel in the south east of the country, which was also hard hit by the earthquake. With partner CROSE we are also planning to give out seeds and tools in Jacmel before the planting season starts in March.

Jean Claude Fignole continued: %u201COur next focus will be on providing shelter ahead of the rainy season in March, helping children get back to school and people get back to work. Another important element of our work will be trauma healing for those who have lost loved ones and been left in shock by the earthquake.%u201D

ActionAid will also be working on the protection of women in the camps and work is also planned in areas which were less affected by the earthquake but have seen an influx of people from the areas which were harder hit.

ActionAid has so far raised more than �5 million for relief and rehabilitation work in Haiti.

Donate now to the ActionAid appeal

Late last week, rain doused the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, heightening the dread of hundreds of thousands of people there who have been living in makeshift shelters since a massive earthquake destroyed great swaths of their city in January.

The rains start in earnest in April. And hurricane season arrives June 1. Cardboard and bed sheets--the materials that now serve as roofs and walls for countless people--are no match for Mother Nature. Even a plastic tarp will offer little comfort when the waters rush and rise. And they will.

This is Haiti where unchecked harvesting of wood--for construction, for charcoal--has left 98 percent of the country deforested, adding to the potential for flooding when heavy rain falls. And with many of the drainage channels around the capital now clogged with debris, where will the water go?

I'm remembering the anxious faces of the Haitians I met recently camped at Centre Sportif de Carrefour, a sports complex where several thousand homeless people had taken refuge under a variety of shelters, many of them constructed from sheets of white plastic stamped with "made in China" logos.

When it rains hard here, said Libermann Lexident, one of the camp leaders, the water pools up to three feet deep. That's hip high on an adult. Everything below three feet gets soaked. Even so, he said, people would rather cope with the flooding than move back to their damaged homes, so profound is the fear the quake has left in its wake.

"If it's raining, it's going to be very hard," said Lexident. "So far, we've been praying. It's been answered. If it rains, we don't know where to go."

Last week's downpour, drumming a warning on the plastic tarps strung across the capital, has heightened the urgency for tens of thousands of homeless families.
Oxfam is distributing tents and plastic sheeting to thousands of them, and estimates indicate that there is enough shelter material in the capital, or en route, to meet the needs of about 50 percent of those who have been displaced. And aid groups think that as many as 40 percent of them could return to their homes if their buildings are declared safe. Oxfam has a team of structural engineers in the capital right now assessing that issue.

But as the rain approaches, the concern isn't just for weather worthy shelter. Sanitation services have become a critical issue as well--especially latrines.

The numbers are frightening.

The UN estimates that the devastated region needs 18,000 toilets, but as the first-month anniversary of the quake approached, aid groups and local workers had been able to dig fewer than 1,000 latrines. Oxfam had installed more than 20 percent of them--testament to our commitment in this area of expertise.

But the need remains enormous, especially as the rains approach and threaten to slop human waste into temporary settlements and crowded camps where there is little room to improve the drainage.

"We now need a surge in effort to improve sanitation facilities for people in Haiti," said Marcel Stoessel, head of Oxfam in the country. "Let us not kid ourselves that this is going to be easy. It requires a Herculean humanitarian effort from all quarters. Around 230,000 people lost their lives on Jan. 12. It is our priority to make sure that we don't let that number grow."

Read more

Oxfam's response to the Haiti earthquake

Map of Oxfam's relief work in Haiti

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Alexandros Yiannopoulos, Oxfam's coordinator of food security and livelihood in Haiti, is blogging for Channel 4 News Online .

It is now time to think big. Three weeks in we have a plan, good people in place and now we have to try to achieve one of the largest projects that I have ever managed, if not one of the largest Oxfam projects since the Tsunami.

In some respects it feels like yesterday when I arrived; on the other hand days seem to be eternally long with nothing going according to plan.

Walking around the bustling streets of Port-au-Prince, with endless traffic jams taking you three times longer than on a weekend, life seems to go on. Markets and shops are open, along the busy pavements there are vendors selling various goods, and people are going about their day to day life.

Most of the basic items and foodstuffs are available but at a price – for some people it is too much.

This is a fragile existence. Many people don't have enough money to cover their daily needs, many of the shops are damaged and traders need more customers to turn a profit.

In response to this, our activities are slowly (I say slowly, but in emergencies we are always impatient) taking shape.

I see the situation in Haiti as a livelihood problem: food is available, markets are operational even though they are weaker, but people do not have jobs and have a limited income to be able to purchase food.

Based on this we are paying unemployed families to help with the cleaning up of their neighborhoods, giving them an immediate income; linked to that, families with some skills such as traders, small shop owners, plumbers, will get a grant to help re-start their small businesses; lastly, because we are concerned about the markets and how quickly they can recover, we are studying them to set up a project to address their weaknesses. For the short-term this should provide enough support to get families back on their feet.

Still at the back of the mind, I have a further two questions (every time I get a better understanding of the situation and do something it opens up more issues): will the situation get worse? Who are we missing?

I will be keeping an eye on how the situation changes and keeping the projects running at the speed needed.

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Oxfam's response to the Haiti earthquake

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PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Four children died and eight were seriously injured Monday after heavy rains triggered mudslides that crashed into a classroom in Haiti's second largest city of Cap-Haitien, residents and an aid worker told The Miami Herald. The 8-year-olds -- three boys and one girl -- were killed at Petite Ecole Francaise shortly after noon when dirt and boulders tumbled down from a mountain and into a wall that crashed through an elementary school classroom. The school, in Carenage, a residential neighborhood in Cap-Haitien, sits at the bottom of a mountain. Many of the students come from well-to-do homes or have professional parents.

``It was madness,'' said Jess Lozier, coordinator for Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group, who arrived at the scene an hour after the accident. Lozier's group works to provide sanitation, electricity and clean water to developing countries.

Haitian National Police officers and doctors from the group Help Haiti Heal scrambled to dig surviving children from the rubble, as did U.S. Army troops.

It was not known how many other children were in the classroom at the time.

``The director of the school said all the other kids were accounted for,'' Lozier said.

Cap-Haitien had been experiencing heavy downpours for the past two days, and officials say more mudslides in a severely deforested Haiti are expected.

Also, city residents reported experiencing two small earthquakes overnight in Cap-Haitien and its surrounding villages, but the U.S. Geological Survey had no reports of earthquakes in Haiti's northern region, which sits on a different fault line than the one that triggered a magnitude-7 earthquake in the capital and several cities on Jan. 12, killing more than 200,000 Haitians.

In 2008, weeks after four back-to-back storms battered Haiti, a school in Port-au-Prince collapsed, killing 91 students and teachers and injuring 162 when the College La Promesse Evangelique caved in.

Many blamed poor construction on the collapse.

Charles reported from Miami and Daniel from Haiti. Herald staff writer Fred Tasker contributed to this report from Miami.

 

February 9

 Today a colleague went to visit her old friend in Carrefour, a commune where we are working, and found her sitting on the flat roof of her house. At night she stays with her nephew but during the day she sits on the rubble left from her house. She says she can�t leave as people will take her things. I feel sad as there is not really anything left to take. People have lost the small things that mean the most, old photos, personal documents etc. The street where she lives is a deserted ghost town where there used to always be people moving around.

February 10

As well as providing latrines and water, we also distribute hygiene kits ; buckets, basins, soap, sanitary towels and underwear so that people can maintain at least a basic level of personal hygiene. We are starting our distribution in one of the first camps we visited. Security at distributions takes a lot of organising so our strategy is to concentrate on distributing our kits to the smaller camps and communities where there are less people to manage who are less likely to receive aid from other organisations.

This morning we are having a meeting on the roof of the half of our building  that survived the earthquake. Looking over at the other building it is amazing that more people did not die. I quietly thank whoever is up there looking out for me. Not being able to open my door may have saved my life. The wall above my office collapsed. My colleague in the office opposite mine was not so lucky.

February 11

 Sometime after 4am a sound stopped my sleep. Not the mosquitoes that somehow manage to get through my net to dine on me, nor the roar of another earthquake, it was torrential rain. Haiti is not ready for the rainy season, which is still several weeks away. It was raining hard. Large tent and plastic sheeting distributions have already taken place but many people are going to get very wet. With the rain also come more risks from the bacteria in the rubbish and excreta which can be washed into the sources of water which people drink and cause diarrhoeal disease.

It�s been a couple of weeks since I last visited the golf course , this was the first camp that I visited that we immediately started work in. It has continued to grow and is now the biggest camp that we support with an estimated 45,000 people sleeping here.  

My colleague Karine and her team have installed a T45 big water tank which holds 45,000 litres of water which is being distributed around the camp using the existing sprinkler system used to keep the golfing green fresh. Following this morning�s rain the golf course is far from green. I leave with my shoes heavy with clay mud. Once the rains really begin, this camp will become a mud bath.

Many people here are unfamiliar with latrine use. I am taking a rest for a couple of days but before I go I need to take photos that can be used for hygiene promotion materials explaining how to made best use of the latrines we have installed.

February 12

Today is one month since the earthquake struck Haiti. The President has made today a day of mourning across the country. This weekend there will be 3 days of fasting and praying to honour the thousands of people Haiti lost in the earthquake.

When I look back over the past month to the first time I visited the camps where we work, they had received no help. In most cases I was the first foreigner that visited them. I am not a technical person but as a 2 person team we were doing everything necessary to get our water project running to start helping people. Now Oxfam has a team of national and international staff in place. Haiti is receiving a huge amount of support from both the region and beyond. There is still an enormous amount of unmet needs particularly for shelter, sanitation and psychological support but in the past month we have helped nearly 100, 000 people. I hope that in the next month we can help 100, 000 more.

Find out more about Oxfam%u2019s humanitarian response to the Haiti earthquake

Haiti earthquake: What Oxfam is doing

Map of Oxfam's relief work in Haiti

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