Oxfam's Haiti response
This is Louis Belanger, Oxfam spokesperson, reporting in Haiti, Port-au-Prince, in the Oxfam guesthouse in Petion-Ville(?) one of the affected areas of the capital. Today we arrived from the Dominican Republic in quite a big convoy. The road was pretty good, travel was, there was no queue at the border... When we went to Port-au-Prince you could sense, you could kind of see of peoples face that something pretty dramatic had happened. And I was talking to some of our colleagues today, some of my Haitian colleagues, who were basically telling me that the entire city, almost the entire country, is mourning just because everybody here in Haiti you know, they know someone, whether it's a neighbour, a brother or a sister, that has died from the earthquake from last Wednesday. So entering the city, there was something very palpable which kind of struck a cord with us. We passed through one of the main hospital that was created very soon after the earthquake, a sort of makeshift hospital in a big industrial zone, and there we saw maybe 250, 300 people lying outside awaiting medicine, waiting to be treated. There were national guards from a few countries, from France, Panama, Dominican Republic, trying to help and bring relief to these people by bringing basic medicine - painkillers and that sort of thing. So we then drove off to the Oxfam office through downtown Port-au-Prince where you can really see the damage, you know 10, 12, 15 storey buildings just completely collapsed on cars, on shops, on electric poles everywhere. It is something... I expected something bad, but it's just really spread out, that's what really impressed me when I was driving through the capital from downtown we went through a neighbourhood that's called Petion-Ville?) which is very hilly and when you go you could just see small houses and big ones sort of just split into two or just completely bended on one side, or just some are in pretty good conditions. In terms of Oxfam office, we saw... there's kind of two offices on the left, one collapsed, it fell down, killing one of our colleagues who had been working for Oxfam for over 10 years. The other building was fine, there's a few cracks, but basically it's holding. I met some of my colleagues, especially the manager of the office who's now leading the team for the response, who lost a mother on Tuesday night. An extraordinary woman, the next day she buried her mom in the backyard and came to work at 8.30... and got to work. So, it's the kind of spirit we have at Oxfam and it's very inspiring to meet her. So we're a big team, now staying at the Oxfam guesthouse also close to the office in Petion-Ville(?). It's really tomorrow to go and do some more assessments of what are the needs in terms of water distribution and we've got logisticians so we've got a pretty strong personnel here ready to help. We have the basic equipment, now we just need an engineer to do the groundwork and assess the field to boost our water distribution. So that's what we're looking for for tomorrow. There's much more that can be told, but I'll leave it at this. So that's the podcast for Sunday (midnight local Haiti time). I'll speak to you tomorrow with more news and my thoughts on what is happening right here in Port-au-Prince. Thanks, have a good night.
This is Louis Belanger, Oxfam spokesperson, reporting in Port-au-Prince. I arrived an hour ago in Port-au-Prince from the border in Dominican Republic. I'm now in a temporary storage location very close to the airport where there's various defence and civil guards from different countries that have arrived with rescue teams, medicines... So they're from France, Panama, Dominican Republic and various countries that have come to help Haiti. I'm with 4 experts of Oxfam, humanitarian experts, that will improve our water distribution and that will (continue?) our assessments in the city. Now, for us today, water distribution is continuing at 2 main locations, and hopefully we can open a third one. One is in a golf course that has now become a massive makeshift camp for over 10,000 people. It's close to one of the best known neighbourhoods of the city. There's more to come as well from Oxfam. So we had a flight landing last night and now there's just the logistical issue to be resolved where we can either ship it to Port-au-Prince at the airport, but there's a bottleneck there, there seems to be some problems to easily ship it to the city. So we're looking into other shipping from, part of it anyway, from land, from Dominican Republic all the way to Port-au-Prince. So we're sorting that out right now. Reports that I've had from colleagues now is that fuel is becoming an issue - there's a lack of fuel, and in the next two or three days that's going to have to be sorted out pretty quickly. Transport is improving - there's more trucking that is being done in terms of delivering aid, so that's good news. And the rescue effort as well, is continuing. I think there's been reports in the press, and elsewhere, especially among the rescue teams last night where we were in the camp on the border, were talking that they were successful in rescuing 2 people. So they were, you know, spirits were high, and they came back today in the hope of finding more people that are stuck under the rubble. In terms of some of the neighbourhoods that have not been looked at, the rescue people are looking into this, and Oxfam will also be thinking about moving in in terms of water distribution. The epicentre of the earthquake, a city called Leogane, which is just out west of Port-au-Prince, shall be where it was the worst. It was southwest of Port-au-Prince in the neighbourhood called Carrefour, and in Leogane which is a small city which is very difficult to access right now, so that's our main problem. And apparently every single house almost had been flattened, or building had been flattened, so that's worrying. I was in Haiti 15 years ago. It's my first day back today. I'm happy to be back, but these circumstances, I wish they could be better. But you know, I'm here to do what I can. And I remember though actually, to the epicentre of the earthquake, to Leogane, on a good day it was difficult to get there, so just imagine how hard it is to reach that city right now. But you know, rescue teams were splitting up here and some were going you know to the actual location of the earthquake so, you know, the co-ordination is improving amongst ourselves and I can see there's a lot of activity, a lot of aid is coming through. So hopefully we're going to be able to close the weekend with a big improvement and look to the week to continue the aid effort. So that's my part for today, Sunday, and we'll speak soon. Cheers, bye.
This is Louis Belanger, Oxfam spokesperson, reporting on the border between Dominican Republic and Haiti. We're on our way with 4 Oxfam experts, humanitarian experts, and the Dominican civil defence who kindly accepted to take us in with them all the way to Port-au-Prince. I should arrive in Port-au-Prince by the end of the afternoon local time. So for Oxfam today, we've started a big water distribution we're continuing - we started yesterday, but today it's expanding, so two major water distributions are going to take place, especially one in one of the neighbourhoods that has been affected the most, the neighbourhood of Carrefour. So we're looking at distributing over 10,000 litres of water to hundreds of Haitians who desperately need it. We also have a shipment through, a British Airways flight that is coming in to Santo Domingo later tonight with 10,000 tons of humanitarian equipment ranging between tents or latrines, and other equipment that we need on the ground. Words from the team are that yes, it's still very difficult in terms of the roads, in terms of the fuel - transportation is an issue in terms of getting that aid out there, but communication (is starting to be restored?)... But of course it's a big challenge. We're still assessing the situation. One thing that makes things a little bit easier is the creation by the Haitian government to create 15 makeshift camps. So whether it's on a golf course or a soccer field, football field, whatever they can, they make soft of makeshift camps and that helps us in terms of the distribution of aid, in terms of the co-ordination. So we'll see how they go and I'll report back to you. So today for us, as I said, it's continuing the water distribution, trying to increase that as we go along, more shipments arriving in the Dominican Republic and we're going to ship it as quickly as possible to Haiti and just try to keep on going. The team has come together, we're now staying in one place so co-ordination is better and lets move on from there. So that's the update for Saturday and I'll talk to you soon. Thanks, bye.
Louis Belanger, spokesperson of Oxfam, reporting at the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Basically today, aid delivery has started. Oxfam in Port-au-Prince has started distributing picks and shovels to people with the community to help rescue people who are still stuck under the rubble. In Oxfam more generally we're going to be shipping a British Airways cargo plane of 10 tons of goods of technical emergency equipment. So everything between water bladders in order to move the water quickly, to buckets, shelter tents, latrines, and everything else that is needed. The plane will leave at 2 o'clock UK time so it's already on its way to Santo Domingo. Once it lands there we're going to see how we can ship this 10 tons of humanitarian relief aid to Port-au-Prince either by road or to the airport if things can improve there. I think people have heard that the situation at the airport is a little bit difficult. The aid is arriving very quickly, and people at the airport have difficulties coping. But we're hopeful that things are going to get better in terms of the aid delivery and aid co-ordination. And I think you can expect that to improve quite a bit. Communications will improve quite a bit, so that's good news - it means that we're able to talk to one another and co-ordinate better, establish where are the needs, establish the neighbourhoods where we need to move in quickly. And we're busy doing that to make sure everybody knows what they have to do so we can move in as quickly as possible. Now, you know, we understand the frustration that it's slow. We share that frustration. We would like to deliver that aid as quickly as possible, but you know, the first three days have been difficult for everybody. Oxfam's co-ordinator, as we speak, the one who's co-ordinating the entire aid operation, lost her mother. We've lost a colleague as well in the earthquake on Tuesday. So we're part of this, we're with the Haitian people and we're working our hearts out to make sure that the aid gets delivered as quickly as possible. Now, as I said, it's all about co-ordinating today and this weekend, and hopefully we can deliver, especially water - we hear that this is the number one priority right now. People need water. It's pretty hot in Haiti, in Port-au-Prince, right now. One thing that Oxfam will be looking at is looking at some of the rural areas. The epicentre, where the earthquake struck, was in the rural areas and it seems to be a little bit forgotten. So we've got some teams in the north, Oxfam Quebec is in the north, so we're going to see what we can do in order to move in in some of the most remote areas of Haiti. It is a very underdeveloped country, the roads are very difficult, basic services are almost non-existent, so the last thing these people needed was an earthquake so they certainly need our help, and we're going to go there and see what we can do to help them. So this is the podcast for Friday. I'm going to be doing this hopefully every day in the next few weeks, so keep in touch. Thanks, bye.
This is Kate Thwaites, Media Co-ordinator with Oxfam Australia. I'm talking with Louis Belanger, Oxfam's Humanitarian Media Officer on the ground in Haiti. Louis - what's the latest? What are you seeing and hearing? LB - Well right now I'm at the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic just because communication is still pretty much down in the island. What happened today was just the delivery and arrival of a massive cargo of aid to the airport. So the airport reopened... there are a couple of more airstrips that are available. So this means that there's a massive amount of aid that flew in and now it's all about delivery. I don't think there's a question that staff are missing or that merchandise itself is missing, I think now, just because communication is down, you know you're talking about trying to help hundreds of thousands of people without landlines, cellphones, internet or electricity, it's a very big challenge. Even though we're very good at what we do, and this is what we do, we still need good connections and we've failed to do that. So the delivery of aid is what we're looking at. It's arrived, we're co-ordinating among ourselves and the humanitarian community and now what we want to do is the delivery. We don't want to do it in a chaotic way. I think people are getting quite impatient. There's been signs today of some small riots - people just being fed up of aid agency cars passing by and not delivering. So we don't want things to escalate. We're going to try and organise as best as we can and deliver, whether it's water or medication or food, in an orderly manner and in a way that reaches the most vulnerable. You know, today is all about the arrival of cargo, some good pledges from governments, and now tomorrow and the following day, it's all about delivering. It's been a challenge. It's been a big challenge, bigger than we thought, and this communication issue will be resolved, so once communication is restored, we're going to be able to talk to one another, communicate with other agencies, and start delivering. KT - And what are you seeing in terms of what other people need? Is it shelter, is it water? What's the first priority? LB - The top four things would be shelter, water - it's extremely hot in Port-au-Prince, food, and then the other one of course is medicine. There's a lot of people with broken arms that are basically in a lot of pain. I've seen here in the Dominican Republic people are queuing in hospital just because they couldn't get medication back home, so they did the drive for three hours and crossed the border and hoped to get some help here in the Dominican Republic... all the hospitals, even in the Dominican Republic are full. So I think the top four things we're looking at are shelter, food, water, and some medications. We understand that people are a bit impatient, that people are wondering why the aid is not here, it's been three day... But communications have been really difficult. I think any government, in any circumstances, would have struggled with it. Just imagine trying to reach the people you want to reach, reach the ministries you need to talk to, without any form of communication. It's been a real challenge. And bare in mind that a lot of the buildings have collapsed. There were ministries, police stations, the building of Oxfam collapsed, the building of Doctors Without Borders collapsed. Oxfam lost a colleague, someone who's been working with us for over ten years. It was a big shock to us as well. It's all about re-grouping and getting that aid out there as quickly as possible. KT - And you are saying that the aid is getting through now, because obviously the reports have been that it wasn't getting through. LB - Yeah, well the airport was closed for quite some time. The airport was closed and the terminal collapsed, on the Tuesday it was on the verge of collapsing. The strip had been damaged, and the main antennae wasn't functioning. So now with the arrival of big cargoes, it's kind of the first good news we've had in a long time. A lot of aid is arriving, a lot of heavy machinery if I can put it this way, to just get rid of those big cement blocks that are blocking the road from houses or offices that have crumbled. Heavy machinery, big communications systems, some water, some water tanks, so just the basics is arrived. It's heavy stuff, so that's why it took a while because you can't truck these things, you need to fly these big machineries. You know, it's there now, and hopefully we can get aid on the way. I was just hearing, before I talked to you, that in the parking lot of the airport itself, they're doing a makeshift hospital, you know, right there, and people are queueing by the hundreds. And they said, you know what, we're just going to open this right here. It's a big space, you have to imagine a kind of open air massive hospital. KT - And how are you and the other Oxfam staff coping? You must be getting pretty exhausted. LB - Yeah, we're tired. For me, I don't live in Haiti or here in the Dominican Republic where they also felt it for a few seconds, but I think the staff back in Haiti were pretty ill, pretty shocked by it, pretty shaken up by it. At first they were trying to find their loved ones, their family, their friends, to make sure they were okay. But now everyone is really dedicated to getting that aid out there. So if you're thinking of making a donation, just don't think twice. Whether you live in Australia, or New Zealand, or Hong Kong, or the UK, go to your local Oxfam website and I'm sure it's going to be frontpage, so it won't be hard to find. I can assure you that the money will be well spent.
Louis Belanger, Oxfam spokesperson in Haiti. I am on my way to the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. We're going to spend the night there, and then hopefully reach Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, by midday tomorrow. So obviously the focus for us, and the priority for us at Oxfam is to make sure that we communicate with our staff on the ground. This has been a huge challenge in the past 24 hours, just to reach our staff and make sure they are okay. And to make sure they connect with each other on the ground. So that's number one. And I think, you know, it's a reality for lots of the aid agencies out there who have serious communication issues, in terms of getting a cell phone and landline and internet functioning. So the priority for us is first to assess... and to assess the situation on the ground itself. And we've got a very capable team on the ground, we're going to be working all day and all night tomorrow to make sure that we assess the situation as quickly as possible, and co-ordinating with other aid agencies to make sure we don't duplicate, and bump into each other. So assessing the situation means sort of looking around different neighbourhoods and different parts of where the earthquake hit, and assessing the situation there. Oxfam's main delivery will be water and sanitation, so making sure people have access to safe and clean drinking water - that's the priority for us. Now, flying into the country in terms of aid delivery, I think we're going to have to be honest and say that the next 36, if not 48 hours in terms of aid delivery will be a bit difficult just because the airport is shut down and the infrastructure in terms of roads is still very difficult for us to operate in. So in terms of aid delivery, we're looking at a bit of a pause if you will, you know, we're going to see that happening a little bit later this week. But hopefully as soon as possible. Many aid agencies, including Oxfam, have made Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic as our main hub. We're going to be shipping aid from there . So hopefully as soon as the airport opens up, and we have better communication, we can start shipping cargos and chartering in people to bring relief to the Haitian population.
My name is Louis Belanger I'm the spokesperson of Oxfam and I'm heading to Haiti in a few hours. It's a Tuesday night Port-au-Prince time. I'm heading first to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and hopefully reach the capital Port-au-Prince by Wednesday so what we're hearing right now is the many building including some of the UN headquarter, the presidential palace have collapsed. The casualties can be counted by the hundreds. There's a huge cloud of smoke as of this time formed itself in the south of Port-au-Prince and the airport is closed right now and people are desperate for attention. Oxfam will be using its regional headquarter in Panama to send in equipment basically for water, so any equipments for water and sanitation will be sent as soon as the airport is open, hopefully by the end of Wednesday, tomorrow. And we'll be assessing the situation. Oxfam has accounted for all its staff except for one, and we're still trying to reach that person. Phonelines are still down. We're actually reaching our colleagues either by text messages when they get through, or by the Skype service. So that's how we're operating right now, and we'll be assessing the situation in the next couple of days. Oxfam will be mainly concentrating on water and sanitation - making sure people have access to safe and clean water as they're trying to cope with the earthquake that has just struck their country. Oxfam has been working in Haiti for many years. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, it's the poorest country in the western hemisphere, so obviously the infrastructure and some of the basic services are lacking. You can expect the country to be needing international help in the next couple of weeks, no doubt, and Oxfam will be part of that.
