January 15th Update on Haiti Earthquake
Yesterday, Dr. Bette Gebrian, Haitian Health Foundation’s Director of Public Health, spent most of her day traveling to remote villages to assess the impact of Tuesday’s earthquake on those living outside of Port-au-Prince.
As she and HHF have done for decades, she directed her attention to the often neglected but rich, rural Haitian society that exists in the southwest corner of Haiti. This was a very preliminary assessment, as HHF cares for over 100 rural mountain villages—many inaccessible by vehicles, with some up to an 18 hour walk from our main clinic.
Rural Challenges
While very different from scenes broadcast from the capital city, Gebrian found many individuals and families whose lives were turned upside down on Tuesday afternoon.
On top of dozens of homes already reported as affected in the Grand’Anse river villages of Marfranc and Moron, Health Agent Jowel Romulus identified some of the more than 50 homes in Dayere that were severely damaged or destroyed by the temblor. “The earthquake wasn’t as severe out here. But many of the homes—built of raw timbers, stones, and mud—weren’t able to endure even this lower intensity of shaking. Families who once had small, two-room homes with a leaky tin roof now may have little more than a gazebo-like structure,” notes Devon Root, a nurse volunteer from Cornwall, Connecticut.”
Photos from the daylong assessment show walls that have crumbled, leaving the inside of modest homes exposed to the elements. As of yesterday, it had rained non-stop for several days both before and after the earthquake, making the impact on the villagers even more severe and HHF’s ability to access areas that much more difficult.
This photo at left shows a home whose walls have crumbled; the need to block the rain and wind resulted in Madam Louis and her child placing banana leaves as a temporary weather barrier, which will need to hold until more permanent solutions are provided.
Other homes with damage haven’t yet been repaired at all, leaving families exposed to the elements.
HHF’s Happy Houses have generally fared much better. “We use much better construction methods, and I’ve only heard of one Happy House that was lost,” says Marc Antoine Balthazar, an HHF nurse who was working in the clinic during this week. Plans are already being formulated to have Jean Arsene Lalanne, HHF’s Disaster Liaison, assess and address this loss of housing in the Haitian Health Foundation’s catchment area.
Medical Challenges
The impact on medical care has already been felt. Gebrian says, “Each month, our obstetrical transport ambulance is used for about 20 emergency evacuations of pregnant women from rural villages to the hospital. These are usually initiated by cell phone calls to Jérémie, to dispatch the ambulance from our clinic. These women will not be evacuated because cell phones are not working throughout southwest Haiti. Women are likely to be evacuated much later, if at all, as cell service becomes available. The delay in care will result in an increase in fatalities.” No ambulance calls have been received since the earthquake.
“We are fortunate that we have heard of few injuries in Jérémie,” notes Royneld Bourdeau, MD, HHF Medical Director. “However, we already know that thousands will return to this area to seek refuge from the chaos in the Port-au-Prince area—in search of the solace of their families. We understand that plans are underway for buses and boats to begin the mass exodus to Jérémie, and many will return with nothing but the clothes on their backs, anxious to get to the home of family or friends. We have already heard that some are making the 190 kilometer, 7-day walk.
Fear has grabbed hold at the maternal waiting home at the Center of Hope–Sant Lespwa. “All eight of these rural women with their high-risk pregnancies have taken to sleeping under a tin pavilion roof rather than on their beds in the cement roof building,” says Rachel Whelan, Information Intern from West Hartford, Connecticut.
Materiel Challenges
Gebrian is also concerned about the inevitable lack of food and supplies in all aspects of HHF’s operations. This part of Haiti relies on cargo vessels for transport of supplies and pharmaceuticals, food, staples, cooking oil, diesel fuel, and lamp kerosene. “Food is already scarce, propane tanks for cooking are difficult to find, rice is being rationed, and physical currency is severely limited,” states HHF Finance Director Ann Schwingel.
Plans are developing in Jérémie and at HHF’s Norwich, CT, headquarters to address the unique issues presented by Tuesday’s earthquake.
