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One month after the earthquake
Daniel O’Neil
It has been a month since the earthquake destroyed Port-au-Prince. Tomorrow was declared as the start of a week of mourning by the Haitian government. As I look back on the month, I am amazed at the changes, proud of some of my accomplishments, and saddened by my mistakes. Following are some of the main points:
- Instant Response: As soon as I heard about the earthquake, I began mobilizing to respond. We were fortunate to have a good relationship with the American Chamber of Commerce in the Dominican Republic. Their Executive Director called me the night of the earthquake and promised the first of the funds. The next morning, we loaded two of ourvehicleswith supplies and crossed the border. We were in Haiti within 24 hours of the earthquake. That was the hardest visit. Collecting the dead was the highest priority. Many people were trapped in buildings. There were no telephones and very little information.
First report on the Haiti earthquake
Collapsed building near Petionville
I am just back from a quick trip into Port-au-Prince to provide initial assistance following the earthquake. Although I lived for six years in Haiti and helped with the response following numerous floods, I’ve never seen anything like this. I did not go into the heart of the damaged area, but was amazed at the damage that was everywhere. As I drove into town, I began to see the first impacts–a section of wall that collapsed here or there. A bit later, I saw whole cinder block walls that were down. A bit later, whole neighborhoods with their walls down. Then I began seeing concrete roofs that had crashed down. As I got into the center part of town, there were buildings down everywhere and corpses left out on the sidewalk for pickup.
What really makes life tough is the lack of services. Everyone is desperately trying to find out who was hurt, but the cellphone service is just starting to work again and the landlines are all down. Port-au-Prince has run out of gas, so the gas stations have become large parking lots that spill out into the roads. There has been no electricity since the quake. Potable water, which has always been expensive, is no very hard to find.
I’m sure that the national authorities are doing their best, but they don’t have much with which to work. The Civil Protection Department does not have any fuel for their vehicles and no one seems to have satellite phones.
It is hard breaking to see the damage and even more to imagine how hard it will be to rebuild. Poor Haiti was hardly finished digging out from the four hurricanes that hit just two years ago. How will they ever recover from this?
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Collapsed supermarket
The Haitian-Dominican border divides the Caribbean island of Hispaniola into two dramatically different worlds, yet this long-neglected region holds the key to the further development of both countries and can serve as a model for how to manage difficult borders throughout the world.
We are working for the reduction of poverty and cross-border conflicts by creating opportunities for the residents of the Haitian-Dominican border–opportunities to improve their production, to improve their sales, and to work with their cross-border neighbors.
As Haiti begins to rebuild, the opportunities and possibilities in the Haitian-Dominican borderlands are more important than ever. We have pulled together a wide variety of information on the border in English, Spanish, and French. Join us in our work to develop Haiti from the border inwards!
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