Initial scenes of Earthquake in Haiti

Yesterday, I flew into the Dominican Republic as commercial flights have still not resumed into Port au Prince. Landing in Santiago, the same island as Haiti, one can immediately see the distinctions: many, many restaurants, 3 and 4 star hotels, myriads of neon signs advertising businesses, well constructed homes and paved highways. As I have noted in prior posts, the entrance to Port au Prince is so depressing. We flew low this morning in an 8 seater and  as soon as we crossed over the invisible border between the two countries the landscape went from lush and green treed mountain sides of the DR to the barren and severe erosion due to the deforestation in Haiti.

On the 2 hour drive through the mountains to Grand Goave, the effects of the earthquake became increasingly visible. Mountain sides had collapsed with huge boulders and massive amounts of dirt closing most of the roads while buildings were lying in rubble. Of greatest sadness are the tents on the sides of the roads made of sheets where the families now live because their homes were destroyed. As we entered the town more and more tent camps could be seen.  Food is the priority at this point which is hopefully to be distributed to the rural areas on Wednesday. What is distressing is seeing camps that have 50 to 400 families with these linen like tents (not tarps to hold off the rain) in which they now live. Difficult to imagine, that a family of 4 lives in a one room tent, while trying to move ahead with their lives plus having these tents touching others on each side. No privacy, limited water and food, and no knowledge of when they might have a house again. Most likely not for months. In addition, there are the after shocks still felt ( which I did this afternoon) almost 1 month later to cause further anxiety in a tension filled environment. Tomorrow, I will be visiting with the women of Fondespwa to hear from them directly how their lives have been affected.

By the way, last night it rained quite severely. Their tents were of no value.