First Impressions

It’s hard to know how to prepare yourself for arriving in the midst of a humanitarian disaster of the scale of the earthquake in Haiti. Even if it is one month on and life, for at least some of the survivors in Port au Prince, is returning to normal. It was exactly one month to the day since the earthquake when I arrived in Haiti to join Haven’s emergency response team last Friday.

Even as you drive out from the airport you immediately see the camps that some of the estimated 1 million homeless Haitians now are living in. It’s strange. One side of the airport road has very formalised tents, set out in neat rows, braced down with plenty of space between each one. The other side of the road is teaming with people, with what can only be kindly described as makeshift tents, squashed together, practically on top of one another. These ‘tents’ are made of whatever material is available to the owners – plastic bags, cardboard boxes, bed sheets, if they are lucky some plywood or corrugated iron.

The latter scenes are replicated everywhere you go in Port au Prince. A million people have been left homeless as a result of the earthquake – at least half of these have fled the capital to other parts of the country not as affected. The other half a million are now living in these temporary camps. Some, like the people on the left side of the airport road are lucky. They have gotten proper tents, have access to food, water and some class of sanitation. The others are not so lucky.

Aid is getting out there – but the need is so huge it is difficult to reach everybody and address every need. But, we are all doing our bit. Haven is mainly involved in two ways – providing latrines in 16 of the temporary camps across Port au Prince to prevent the spread of disease, improve health and give back dignity to the people and then secondly in providing temporary shelter to families living under bedsheets before the rain comes in Haiti. And it’s coming soon. We’re also involved, as part of these programmes, in providing cash for work for people living in the camps and improving sanitation and hygiene through education programmes.

But, as you travel around PaP, as a newbie, you cannot help your jaw dropping as you see buildings literally razed to the ground. You turn a corner, and there’s another massive pile of rubble which was once a home, or an office, or a shop. You think to yourself, no one could have survived if they were in that building. And you are probably right. It is overwhelming. And unbelievably sad.

One of the other things that really struck me in my first 24 hours in Haiti was driving through the capital at just after 5am on Saturday morning. As we passed by one of the large informal camps I saw literally hundreds of people queuing quietly in the dark. I asked the Haitian driver I was with what were they doing – they were waiting patiently, quietly, determinedly for food. There was no sign yet of the food truck – the people were just beginning to queue early. Perhaps there was nothing else to do but wait.

The other thing that is crystal clear here is the fear of the Haitian people. Everyone fears another earthquake. No one wants to sleep indoors anymore – even if their houses were not damaged by the quake. People may stay around their houses – in the open mind you – during the day. But, when night falls, many communities close off their streets with makeshift barriers, made of rubble, sticks or whatever else they can lay their hands on. They then sleep in the open. Feeling safe in the knowledge that no roof will cave in on them tonight.