[Vision2020] Nancy Casey on the Haiti Earthquake

[Gier, Nicholas]

Greetings:

I'm sure that Nancy Casey, who makes yearly humanitarian trips to Haiti, will not mind me sharing this with the Vision.

As I'm sure you know, a catastrophic earthquake struck Haiti yesterday.

Most of the news from the media is coming from the capital and other
cities where the situation is very bad. Most construction is of concrete
that is skimpy on cement and rebar. (Once I heard a homeowner argue with
a handyman over whether a repair was going to require 4 or 6 nails.) The
poorest people live in shacks made of materials propped together. In the
cities, the destruction, terror and suffering going on now are on a
scale that is hard for us to imagine. Survivors won't have access to
clean water, sanitation will go south, the roads that bring food from
the countryside are surely broken and every family has lost loved ones.

The disaster on LaGonave has a somewhat different flavor. Casualties and
damage are less in the countryside than in the capital. Life is lived
outdoors. There are fewer buildings and fewer people inside them. They
experienced shock after shock (see below). Many houses fell down. People
were hurt, but I don't know that anyone was killed. People are frantic
for family members on the mainland, especially children going to high
school in Port au Prince. Cracked cisterns will cause water shortages.
The transportation system that brings food to the island--docks, roads,
vehicles, ships and boats--is entirely disrupted, so in a few days there
will start to be a critical food shortage there.

The good news/bad news is that the progressive community on LaGonave has
experience with this kind of catastrophe--in the aftermath of the coup
of 2004 and the hurricanes of 2008, they faced crises of similar
magnitude (from which they are still recovering). Even now they are
organizing their response. There will be a fund to expand school meal
programs to include families. They might charter a boat to bring food
over from the mainland. They will know what to do. There will be a fund
to expand the reconstruction program put together after the hurricanes.

More good news is a coalition of groups called "Farming is Life". They
have been working for many years to heal environmental damage and strive
for food sustainability. Every year they make gains towards the goal of
making the island less vulnerable to these kinds of food crises.

So here's the pitch: You can put money straight into the hands of people
who truly need it in the throes of this disaster by sending a check to
the VP Foundation PO Box 9757, Moscow, ID 83843, fiscal agent for this
work in Haiti. On your check you can write:
FOOD and the money will ward off starvation
SHELTER and the money will go to the reconstruction of homes
FARMING and the money will support long-term food self-sufficiency.
Or you can write "as needed."

You can also donate online using PayPal. Go to vpfound.org/support.html
and click on Courageous Women.

LaGonave is a remote hinterland of Haiti, so help that emmanates from
the capital might or might not trickle there. The support you send is so
much more than a drop in the bucket. Thank you very much.

Nancy Casey

p.s.  A group of us from Moscow (4 people) have been planning a trip to
LaGonave and will still probably go in March.

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 From Benaja, the school secretary, on the night of the earthquake
writing in Matenwa on LaGonave via satellite connection

” 7:16 pm: Until now everything is ok around here, I mean Matènwa, Plèn
Mapou, Bwa Nwa, Nan Kafe, Grande Source. You know, people are yelling
everywhere, because it’s the first time this has happened in Haiti like
this. There are a lot of houses broken everywhere, thank God we are safe
here. But almost every 10 to 20 mn, we feel the earthquake. But in Port
au Prince there is a lot of damage.”

8:20: Up to now the tremors are still intense. You know that people are
not used to this kind of thing, it is really difficult. People are
running around, they are trying to get in contak with their families,
there is shouting everywhere. You know that many people in Matènwa have
children in Port Au Prince, which is worrying everyone. The cement roof
is shaking tremendously.

8:34 One just passed now. It had a lot of force. I would say almost as
bad as the first one, if not the same.

9:10: The school yard is filled with people now. Bernise went to get
Anita [her Mother, known for her coffee] and even she is here in the
lakou. SHe is lying down in the yard where the children usually play
ball. It is like a huge funeral in the yard tonight. It is totally
filled with people. Thank you for this big meeting place that is
equipped with light. No one wants to go inside anyone’s house to sleep.

After midnight there was another one that felt just as harsh as the
first one.”

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