Ground Zero -- Leogane

By Adam Koons, Director of Relief, International Relief and Development

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI -- Today we traveled outside of Port-au-Prince and into ground zero. The town, and district, of Leogane, with about 150,000 residents was closest to the earthquake’s epicenter. And it showed. Although, estimates we had heard of 90% destruction were easily visible, the mayor told us that 100% of the population were affected, since even those few whose homes were not destroyed were afraid to enter their still standing and damaged houses. The entire population was sleeping outside, in makeshift shelters of plastic and cloth, in spontaneous settlements within and outside the town center. The police were sitting outside of a damaged police station. When we found the mayor he was camped outside his broken house. Our visit was a “rapid assessment” to understand the emergency needs, gaps, and the types of activities that IRD would be best suited to provide. The mayor, in short, told us they need virtually everything because the population had lost virtually everything.

In one settlement we visited of around 230 families we met a group of young men who immediately approached our vehicle when we arrived. They explained that they were the self-appointed, volunteer, security committee, formed because even in such areas insecurity and theft are a huge problem and far beyond the capacity of the local police. Both the desperation of the population, which has caused mass looting and crime, and the escape of an estimated 4000 prisoners from the earthquake-damaged central prison, has made such community protection a necessity. It was a perfect opportunity for our IRD team to hand out a number of the wonderful solar charged Sunlight Solar Bogo-Light flashlights we were carrying just for such occasions. The flashlights will improve the group’s ability to patrol at night and thereby the settlement’s security. By working closely with the maker of the lights, that were donated, we ultimately hope to distribute thousands of them soon.

Another settlement we visited completely filled the town football stadium with tiny shelter built shoulder to shoulder. We met a few young men who were making wooden frames for additional shelters. They told us they were salvaging the materials from the destroyed homes in town. And amidst it all, we found children playing, as we often do…. and of course, begging us to take their picture, which, of course, we did. One young boy of about five had a home-made kite of salvaged plastic and recovered string. His kite was aloft about 500!

On the way back to Port-au-Prince, after passing a US Marine helicopter landing site and encampment (the helicopters had been passing low and loud overhead all day), we got another sense of the force that leveled an entire town. We came upon a mile long crevasse in the side of the highway that we estimated to be maybe 15 feet deep.

We have chosen Leogane as one of the primary IRD disaster response sites for our activities that we hope will include water repair, sanitation and latrines, shelter, and perhaps agriculture. So, we will return soon.