Broadcast live to the web from a phone call

Hello this is Louis Belanger, Oxfam spokesperson reporting from Port-au-Prince. So today is Tuesday, we had a good day today for Oxfam compared to yesterday. So we delivered a lot of water, we were active in three main sites across Port-au-Prince - two of them were in Petionville and one in Delmas. So it went really well. We delivered probably over 30,000 litres of water to over 3,000 people. So in the scale of things we understand that it's small, but we're dedicated to boost our water distribution. The quantity of water that we delivered to the population here that's so badly needed now, just as Oxfam, we're a big family and today was a good example of how we work together. I'll just give you an example - Oxfam Spain, so Intermon Spain, delivered the water bladder that we need to store the water, the trucks were provided by Oxfam Quebec, and the engineers, the ones that installed the entire system, were engineers provided by Oxfam Great Britain. So it just shows you how we work together. We had a tough time to start this whole operation, but now it's well underway. And today we continued with assessments - we sent more engineers, more public health officers to have a quick assessment of different sites including the epicentre of this earthquake, a town called Leogane. So we had a quick look and we're going to see if we're going to intervene and if we're going to be active in that city. So that's what our engineer and public health officer were busy doing today, trying to find more sites to make sure that we boost and increase our water delivery as well as sanitation equipment and latrines. So in terms of the aid co-ordination, I think it's improving. Communications is better, we're talking more and more to our partners and allies here in the city. So for instance, yesterday we went to visit a university campus where there's 25,000 displaced people that are currently living there, and we realise that you know, some of the agencies are already there, and providing water, so we moved on, just to give you an idea... So we go to where we think the biggest needs are, and then if other agencies co-ordinate with other agencies then we move on, and that's what we did today. A lot of people are telling us about how scared they are, they're still frightened by what happened to them a week ago. A lot of them it's the first thing that they talk about. Of course they are hungry, of course many of them need medical assistance, but a lot of them, the first thing they tell us is that they're scared. Scared of what? Scared of going back into their houses, even though the house is still up and only damaged or one of the walls is cracked, they're just so frightened that the same thing will happen to them, whether it was their neighbours, their brother, their sister, who unfortunately didn't make it because their house collapsed. So now slowly but surely people are starting to move back into the house where they live. Unfortunately it's because of security. In these big camps at night it's pretty unsafe. As you can imagine, people are pretty desperate so a lot of people are saying that they're moving back into their houses because of security concerns, not because they feel safe. People are really living on the edge. I have to say that the Haitians, I don't know how they survive, I mean it's very impressive. They are survivors, they are fighters, they are determined to go on. You know, I'm from Canada, I wouldn't know the first thing to do if something like this would happen. But somehow these people, they keep fighting on. You can sense it in the city, you can sense the people that have made it, because there's probably over 100,000 people that didn't make it, but the people that did make it have this sort of desire to just carry on with their lives and they're quite calm. A lot of people talk about insecurity. Yes, there are some scenes of chaos and looting, but generally I think people just try to go on with their daily lives and survive. So yes, it's a homage to the people of Haiti - they're fighters, there's no doubt about that. And one week after the earthquake, for us at Oxfam it's been difficult. We can say it's been one of the most difficult and challenging weeks in the history of Oxfam. You know we've been around for a long time, since 1942, we started delivering humanitarian assistance, and because of the logistical issues, because of the almost complete collapse of communications, because of the airport being unavailable and out of service for a good 48 hours, and because of the personal impact of this earthquake on Oxfam - we lost two colleagues, the Oxfam Country Director lost her mother, one of our buildings is gone and we lost a lot of equipment... Our spirit was affected in the first 48 hours. So all this put together, the logistical difficulties, communication, the airport not working, and then at the Oxfam level, being victims ourselves of this terrible tragedy, it's been quite a week and it's been difficult. But you know, you continue trying to boost our water delivery and our sanitation equipment as I said, we're tired, we're sleeping open air just like the Haitian people, we have a house where we're about 20-25 people, where we're lacking in electricity, where there's no internet, where the walls are cracked as well. A lot of people are sleeping outside, there's no tents, but we're dedicated people and we're going to continue fighting and working hard to get as much aid to the Haitian people who so desperately need it. So that's my podcast for today and I will speak to you very soon. Thank you.