Words from Haiti: 24th January 2010

These emails are coming from a friend of a friend.  This lady lives in and work in Haiti, clearly part of the ex-pat community there.  Much of her info is covered in the news but some of the more personal comments are interesting - eg the reported who is impressed with the calm and non violence - unlike the pillaging and shooting that we hear about in the media; it's no wonder that some of us grow cynical about what we read.  ("I read the newspaper avidly, it is my one form of continuous fiction"  A.C. Benson). 

Below the letter  are some recent news notes..

Subject: more news
Hi there friends. Well life goes on and so far in the last 24 hours we haven't had any aftershocks, but now I've said that they will probably come.  The radio was announcing that we have a 90% chance of having another earthquake at 4+!!! Please God no - the people have suffered enough and news like that is not helpful to anyone's mental health. I gather it's the US Seismology people who are saying this.

They are announcing 110,000 already dead and 250,000 injured and 3 million people affected.

Amazingly an 84 year old woman and a 22 year old guy were pulled out of the rubble after 10 days !! They reckon 132 people have been saved from under rubble and it's amazing that after these 10 terrible days they are actually alive!!

A French reporter was interviewed and she said she was impressed with the calm and non violence that was felt in the capital, despite news to the contrary.  This will be a chance to rebuild Haiti and change things for the good of the country. She said she didn't feel any insecurity.

The DR has done an assessment of the electricity situation and now they're costing it and hopefully things will start to happen.

Thank God, the banks were open today and we were able to get money. F… stood in line from 9am to about 12 midday to get some money out for me.
The Port is working partially - not fully and they are only receiving aid supplies - no ordinary commercial things.

Although there is only 30% of the gas stations working, the situation is much better.

300,000  have received food rations  thru the aid organisations this week.

134,000 people left the country on free flights to either the States or Canada.

There has been several concerts which are fundraising for Haiti.

I shall be glad when the supermarkets are open so you can go and get basic stuff like milk. G… is doing a great job finding what food and meat he can get every day.

The …. are still down at Aux Cayes so we don't have to worry about them.
My car is now back working thank God and so I'll be more mobile.

Q…. didn't need my help as they are very very well organised and are working as facilitators for the medical teams. I'm checking out where else I can be of help.

Simple things like taking a shower - you just take it so fast as you don't want to be caught in the shower when another aftershock, or worse an earthquake happens!!

Thanks again for your support and your thoughts.
 
NOTES..
       * The overall security situation remains calm. Fortunately, the weather has been kind to us. However, were it to rain heavily, the situation could worsen.

       * The Haitian National Police and MINUSTAH have taken measures to secure the re-opening of banks in Port-au-Prince, which will begin business on Saturday 23 January, according to bank representatives.

       * MINUSTAH’s UN Police reports that 70% of the manpower of the HNP throughout the country has been reporting for duty and performing their tasks this week.

       * The UN Police Commissioner, Gerard Chaumont, met last Wednesday with the US Ambassador in Haiti, Kenneth Merten, to discuss the construction of 50-100 supplementary housing areas for prison inmates in the PAP area.  The mobile units were already dispatched from the US.

       * Research and rescue operations are still ongoing. No live rescues have been reported during the past 24 hours. The total number of live rescues is 121 people, so far.

       * Around 8,700 people are living in eight camps in Jacmel, to whom MINUSTAH and WFP are providing food and drinking water. 


       * The SRSG, the Force Commander, and advisors to President Préval visited Jacmel and Leogane yesterday to examine the impact of the earthquake in those cities.  Out of the 2 cities, they noted Leogane was the hardest-hit, requiring urgent medical sanitary, and food assistance.   They also overflew the municipality of Gressier, located between Leogane and Carrefour, which was also severely affected.

           * According to WFP the port in Port-au-Prince, which has not been functioning since the earthquake, is now partially functioning.  For the moment, it can only receive humanitarian ships equipped with their own cranes. 

   *  Resumption of some economic activities, among which:

1.      The fact that 30% of the gas stations are operational and that there is no fuel shortage. 2.      The soft drinks industry is operational at 50%, and will be operational at 100% by next week. 3.      Most surviving supermarkets will be functioning by next week, and so will the manufacturing industry.  4.      Telecommunications is expected to be operational by the end of this week.

2 Commercial flights in and out of Haiti have not yet resumed their operations.  Delta Airlines may reportedly start operating twice a week, starting on 26 or 27 January.