Tag Archives: emergency

Photo by Sara A. Fajardo/Catholic Relief Services

By Mathilde Magnier, Caritas Communications Officer in Port-au-Prince

A month after the earthquake that devastated the country, Haitians remembered their dead with three days of mourning and fasting.

From dust till dawn in Port-au-Prince, the loudspeakers blasted gospel, sermons and prayers in a strange atmosphere of joy, despair and reverence. In this deeply religious country, Catholics, Protestants and followers of voodoo join in the same celebrations, their arms raised to the heavens.

In the shattered capital, the main places of worship have been destroyed, forcing people to organize ceremonies in the city’s waste grounds, schoolyards or temporary shelter camps such as Petionville Club or the Champ de Mars. In the streets solemn mourning processions follow groups of people openly grieving. Women are dressed in white, children wear their best clothes and men have tied black armbands of mourning around their arms. Those who can walk help the injured in their wheelchairs and support those hobbling on crutches. Some sing and dance while others are prostrate. The crowd is so dense it is difficult to know who believes in what and who prays to who.

“These are difficult days. As Haitians we have to mourn our dead together “, explains Lérénie. Continue reading →

Diego Jean (12) who lives in the Lakoun centre for street children in Port-au-Prince. He doesn't know if his parents survived the quake and is too frightened to find out. Credit: Conor O'Loughlin/CARITAS

By Conor O’Loughlin, Communications Officer, Trócaire (Caritas Ireland), in Port-au-Prince

Haiti is not an easy place to be a child. It has the highest rates of infant, under-five and maternal mortality in the Western Hemisphere. Diarrhea, respiratory infections, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS are the leading causes of death. Thousands of the country’s schools were ruined in the earthquake of January 12, and even before the earthquake only half of children attended primary school. Less than one in fifty finish secondary school.

As many as 2,000 children are trafficked to the Dominican Republic every year. Sometimes their parents cannot afford to look after them. Sometimes they are trafficked by force. Many end up working in the sex trade for western tourists and others end up in domestic service for little or no wages.

Often, those who stay fare little better.

Diego Jean is a little man of twelve. Continue reading →

People waiting for food distributions at 5.30 am in the Champs de Mars area of downtown Port-au-Prince. The distribution was being carried out by Caritas Haiti and partners for displaced people living in the shadow of the city's decimated Presidential Palace. Credit: Conor O'Loughlin/Caritas

A quelques jours de l’anniversaire du premier mois du tremblement de terre qui a décimé Haïti en janvier dernier, le gouvernement haïtien a publié des chiffres alarmants sur l’ampleur de la catastrophe dans le pays. Si l’on compte aujourd’hui plus de 230 000 morts, le bilan devrait augmenter rapidement dans les jours à venir, les décombres commençant seulement à être dégagés. A l’heure actuelle, on recense 300.000 personnes soignées pour blessures, 250.000 maisons détruites et 30.000 commerces perturbés.

Le prix des biens de consommation est de plus en plus élevé et les services arrivent à saturation. Le secteur le plus touché : celui de la santé, avec l’arrivée en masse de victimes du séisme grièvement blessées.
Continue reading →

A woman holds a ticket to receive 50 pounds of rice at the Salesian Seminary in Port-au-Prince. Photo by Sara A. Fajardo/Catholic Relief Services

As we approach the one month anniversary of the earthquake that decimated Haiti 12 January, the Haitian government has released updated figures that give a chilling account of the destruction.

The death toll stands at over 230,000 people, around the same number who were killed in the 2004 Asia tsunami (in 14 countries). With the rubble only starting to be cleared in Haiti, the figure can be expected to rise.

250,000 houses were destroyed and 30,000 businesses disrupted. Approximately 502,000 people remain homeless throughout Port-au-Prince alone, spread between 322 different camps.

The government fears it could take ten years to rebuild Haiti, one of the world’s least developed countries, to the same level it was 11 January. Reconstruction efforts will begin after the initial relief effort has finished, but we’re still in the initial phase.

The response, one of the largest seen anywhere in the world for years, is continuously adapting to the changing environment. Continue reading →