Front Burner - ‘Not again’: Haitians cope with another earthquake

Episode Date: August 19, 2021

An earthquake, overflowing hospitals and critical supply shortages have Haitians remembering the fallout from past disasters. Two guests from the community reflect on what’s happened, and what recovery should look like.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Outside the overflowing hospital in Lakai, Haiti, Lynette Noël watches workers lay a body wrapped in white on the ground. It's the body of her daughter.

We came in yesterday afternoon. They didn't do anything for her. They just gave her a painkiller. She died in my arms this morning. I can't do anything for her. They just gave her a painkiller. She died in my arms this morning. I can't do anything. Elsewhere, rain from Tropical Storm Grace drenches thousands who've had their homes completely destroyed and find themselves suddenly living in the streets.

For those who still have homes, some are afraid to even sleep, fearing they'll be crushed. The rain fell on top of us. We slept sitting down on chairs. Nobody has come to help us. We have no tarps. We sleep here sitting down. I don't want to go home. I am in God's hands. These are just a few scenes from Haiti this week, after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake devastated the country's southwest on Saturday. As of Wednesday, the death toll approached 2,000 and nearly 10,000 were injured. All of this in a country grappling with COVID-19, the assassination of its president, and the remaining damage from a quake in 2010. I'm Elamin Abdelmahmoud, and today on FrontBurner,

I'll be talking to guests in Haiti and in Canada about how their communities are coping with another crisis, and how Haitians in both countries are fighting to improve the outcome. To get the perspective from Port-au-Prince, I'm joined by Jameson Francis. He's a journalist and editor of the Aibo Post. Hi, Jameson. Hi, Larry. Thank you for having me today. I want to start by asking, when you found out just how powerful this earthquake was, what went through your mind? Oh, immediately I thought about the one in 2010.

It's being called a catastrophe of major proportions. The Caribbean island nation of Haiti has been rocked by its biggest earthquake in more than 200 years. Because, you know, it was a powerful one and there was a lot of damage. And then when we realized that the center of the earthquake was in the south, and that region has been destroyed partially in 2016 by a Category 4 hurricane. Initial reports were of flooding and destruction.

But only now, three days after Matthew, are we getting a clear picture of what the aid agencies are facing. From initial estimates of five dead, the count is now 300 and rising. Then I said to myself, well, this is going to be hard. This is going to be hard. And sure enough, that has come to pass. We are talking on Wednesday afternoon. It's been four days since the earthquake struck Haiti Southwest.

But in that time, Tropical Storm Grace passed directly over some of those areas that were worst hit by the quake. some of those areas that were worst hit by the quake. So with those events combined, can you describe for us the situation that people in the Southwest are facing right now? Well, first of all, there are a lot of remote areas such as Cavaillon, La Zille, where a lot of people are homeless. 90% or 95%, it depends on the location, of the houses have been destroyed. But the city that is most affected is Lekai,

which is the largest city in the south. This is the biggest camp in the area, people seeking refuge on a football field. They were told they'd be safe here, but as the rains poured, they were soaked, their tents ripped apart by the winds. The people here are desperate and angry. A lot of homeless people sleeping in the streets. And, you know, the last 24 hours were raining, so they had to decide between staying outside and face the wind or go inside the damaged houses. So, you know, it's a tough choice.

In terms of the accounts that you're hearing, can you tell me about what some of the people that you've heard from in the South, can you tell me about what they've told you? Oh, well, it's a desolation completely. For example, there was that one woman that I have talked to for the last two to three days, and she has eaten something on Saturday. And it was the last day that she has eaten something consistent. And then you have the hospitals that are receiving a lot of people and they lack either medical staff, they lack medical supplies. So yes, it's really terrible.

Haiti's pain echoes in the agonized scream of this little boy. He's had this gaping open wound on his wrist for three days as overwhelmed doctors struggle to help. This is one of the hospitals trying to do its best to treat the injured in the disaster zone. You can see how overwhelmed it is. There are still people who are waiting to get in, waiting to get treatment. You can see this woman right here. And when we talk about the overcrowded hospitals, what is it like inside those overcrowded hospitals right now? Well, if you go to an IN hospital, for example, the largest one in Lekai, which is a state hospital, if you enter, when you enter, you almost immediately start to see people in the ground.

So they don't have enough places inside. So you have people outside of the hospital waiting for a doctor, waiting for someone to come and to take care of them. Things are getting better because, you know, a lot of aid getting through. But for now, for today, that's the situation. Now, I think some of the context that is required to understand all of this is that even before the mud and rock slides that physically cut off some roads, Haiti was already struggling with COVID-19 and also struggling with gangs. So how difficult is it going to be to get aid into the South where it's needed right now?

Yes, well, you mentioned the gangs that are important because for almost two years now, gangs are ruling ports of Port-au-Prince. They kill, kidnap without a lot of reaction from the police. kill, kidnap without a lot of reaction from the police. And specifically, the national world that leads to the South is under their control. So, for example, for the last three months, you hear automatic gunshots every day, like every day. They are fighting one against the other. So the question is how to go to the south when you must take that route.

I've heard that the gangs are in talks with the government to not attack people who are going to help and who are going to take that route, but it's not yet clear how to face the gangs to bring help to the south. It's really not clear because it's really a no man's land for now. And of course, all of this is happening under a backdrop of political instability because it's also only been six weeks since the assassination of Haiti's president. So how has the political instability

affected the government's response to the earthquake? Yes. As you know, the country was already unstable before his death. And for the response relief, it's more related to the incompetence of those who are in power. I mean, after the 2010 earthquake, for example. So people really thought that the leaders would give a radically different orientation to the country. We believed that we would be prepared for such a disaster because we would have learned the lesson the hard way.

But what happened? In 2016, as I mentioned, you had a Category 4 hurricane called Matthew that destroyed a large portion of the same area that is affected today by the earthquake. And the response to that disaster, well, it was a disaster itself. This bridge connecting the southern part of the island to the capital city collapsed, while this river threatens to destroy yet another of the few bridges leading to Port-au-Prince. You can see the river absolutely raging. It's already 15 feet higher from where it would normally be, and still it continues to rise. Concern is so great that police have closed

down this bridge, so people who are in this village are unable to make it to Port-au-Prince by car. Haiti is an over-centralized country where everything depends on Port-au-Prince. After the earthquake and after Matthew, they did not reinforce the local communities. They did not give adequate resources and training to the local authorities. So there was no hope to bring adequate response to that disaster now. And it's only yesterday that the prime minister has said that there will be some kind of commission to handle the West Coast, like four days after. So you're already seeing some of these signs of, I guess,

like a lack of organization in the rollout of this recovery. Let's talk about those early stages of recovery. How have the people in Haiti been organizing to help each other? Well, maybe that's the hope that we have. That's the light that comes across all of this disaster. You have a lot of people, actual people, actual citizens who are trying to help by collecting stuff, clothes, food, water, medical supplies. But the problem is

how will that aid go to the South? But it's really different. It's really different from 2010. And it's a great thing, I think. That solidarity is powerful to see and maybe it's a starting point to start to think about the future because

Haiti sits right on one fault line and directly under another. I think it's safe to assume that there will be more earthquakes. How do you think Haiti is preparing for the future? There is zero preparation, I think. Yes, we will have future earthquakes, sadly, but we will. And we can take an example, which is, to me, it's the example to take. It's the one of Cape Haitian. Cape Haitian is the second largest city of the country in terms of economics.

And it's the most important touristic destination. But, you know, back in 1842, the city was destroyed by an earthquake. For years now, geologists and other specialists have been saying that the next earthquake that will hit Capetian is really imminent. You don't know if it's a matter

of years, months, or days, you know. After 2010, after the earthquake, you had some preparation, some activities, such as earthquake response simulations. And you had some radio shows that were talking about it. But they lasted a few months. So now if you ask someone, anyone in Cape Patient, what to do in case of such a disaster, in case there was an earthquake in Cape Patient, they won't be able to tell. So if we are struck by an earthquake, hopefully not, but if we are struck by an earthquake like tomorrow or in one month, in one year, you will have the same situation as the one that you have now as the one that you had into back in 2010 so um i don't know maybe one or two years from now people will still be in um refugee camps for example jameson thank you so much for your insight thank you so much for sharing all of that really valuable insight with us it It was my pleasure. Thank you.

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far beyond the country's borders. Canada has deep ties to Haiti, with over 165,000 Haitian Canadians here, most of them in Quebec. Marjorie Villefranche runs La Maison de Haiti, a help center for Montreal's Haitian community. Hi, Marjorie. Hi. I want to know what went through your head when you heard about the earthquake. How is your family in Haiti doing? Well, first thing that went into my head when I heard that in the morning,

it's not again. My goodness. Not again. Another nightmare. And then, effectively, I thought about my family, about my friends over there. The difference now between the earthquake 11 years ago and now, everyone has a cell phone. So we had news from the family, and we knew that the house, there is no more house, but everybody's alive. This is the most important thing. You work closely with members of the Haitian community here in Canada.

What concerns are you hearing from them? Well, the first concern is what are we going to put in place to be in touch with the community, to give the right answers to the community here and to give good information to the people in Haiti. And we knew that all the journalists and the media would come to us to have news. So we have to get prepared for that too. Earlier in the show,

we heard from a journalist in Port-au-Prince who talked about how hard it is to get to this very remote and isolated part of the country. How is that making things difficult for people in Canada to help their loved ones? Well, before the earthquake, it was difficult because there is only one road coming from the capital to that region. All the time, there's problem on the road because the road is very bad. So usually people fly or take boat from Port-au-Prince to go there. Usually it's difficult. So imagine now how can we go for emergency aid as quick as we can over there. It was not possible to go by the sea because the

sea was very bad. We couldn't fly. And that was a terrible moment for the population. We cannot do nothing. And even people in the country, people in Haiti, for example, who are in Port-au-Prince, they couldn't help people over there. So the feeling of being so useless, even though if you want to help, you cannot help. I want to talk about what it's like to work with not only survivors, but also the families of survivors of 2010 who are offering support while Surtana sort through experiencing this time. Is it re-traumatizing for them? It is. It is a lot re-traumatizing. And the thing we have to talk about is how are we going to give psychological help to those people who are thinking about what they went through 11 years ago and say the same feeling is coming.

And we should help those people because they need, you know, they need to speak. They need to externalize their pain. It is very important. I understand that you're asking the federal government to speed up immigration for Haitians. Why is that a priority for you? Because you have a lot of people who sponsor their family, their wives, their husbands. The backlog is very heavy.

You have people who should be here, but they are waiting for their papers two years, their husbands. The backlog is very heavy. You have people who should be here, but they are waiting for their papers two years, three years. So we ask to fast track those people. I think it's a lot of people living with fear and it's a lot of suffering. Why let them suffer here? Allow people to sponsor their family who lost everything in the country. What else do you want the government to do to help Haiti right now? Well, they can do something very quickly for the emergency aid. The Canadian army can be very useful in those situations. In an area, a very remote area, I think the Canadian army can get there very easily because they have the equipment to do that.

And there is a lot of people of Haitian origin living in the country looking at the government. They say, well, what are you doing? Why can't we go there too and help? There have been a lot of concerns over the years about foreign aid going into Haiti, especially after the 2010 earthquake. You know, some say that it was kind of turned into an NGO republic, that resources didn't get where they needed to go. January the 13th, 2010, just 24 hours after the earthquake. His ambulance disabled, we found Ralph Senekal treating as many victims as he could

from the ruins of his collapsed paramedic clinic. A year later, it's hard to believe how little progress has been made. After receiving no NGO assistance or government funds, the damage caused 12 months ago still hasn't been repaired. I know if that money went in to the Asian government, nothing would get done. They say that to give it to all the organizations, the international organizations. These organizations, they have no structure.

No one is supervising them. So they do whatever they want to do. And Haiti has also had this legacy of foreign intervention in its politics, including from Canada. So how can countries like Canada support Haiti while respecting Haiti's sovereignty? Well, you know, we were talking about emergency aid. And I think Red Cross around the world, when there is a natural disaster, they are there. We are not talking about rebuilding the country.

We are not talking about development. And I would never say give the money to Red Cross to do the rebuilding of the country or the development of the country. Of course not. Well, a scathing expose released by ProPublica and NPR found out that despite the Red Cross raising half a billion dollars, they only built six homes. Yes, six. That sounds shocking. Technology now allows us to speak directly to the population in the country. So we were in a Zoom meeting yesterday. Half of the people were living in Montreal

and half of the people in the Zoom were in the country, in the south of the country, explaining to us what they need. In that village, this is the situation. In that village, this is the situation. We have to listen to the population. And I think the problem of the NGOs usually is that they don't listen to the people. They don't ask the population what are their needs.

I think I can understand the distinction between this sort of immediate emergency aid and the long-term planning for development to prepare for, say, future earthquakes. I guess under that context, I wonder what you make of comments from François Audet, who's on the board for the Haitian-Canadian organization CanPay. He says international support is important, but it has to pass through local organization, has to pass through local civil society, local governance as well. So international relation, international support is important. It's essential, but it has to pass through local organization. What do you think of that? We think the same, Mr. Odette and me, because yesterday we were speaking with the population and they said, this is what we need. This village, we have to rebuild the school. We have to,

you know, we need water. We have to build another well for the water. And this is what we need. We have to rebuild the school. We have to, you know, we need water. We have to build another well for the water. And this is what we need. We don't need food because we do have food, you know, but we need this, this and that. And we have to listen to them. And we have to work with local organization. And I think it is very important to listen to the people. Listen to the people. So after 2010, I remember that there was so much attention from the media and from artists and from celebrities. They were all collaborating to raise money for Haiti. That is not happening now. Why do you think that is?

That is not happening now because I think the intensity of the earthquake is very big, but the density of the population is less, so it's less spectacular because it is in a very remote region. The suffering is the same, but for the media it's not spectacular enough, I would say, because it's not 300,000 people dying. I would say, too, that we are not the only country with natural disaster this year. I don't think that people don't want to help. Now, what is one thing that you want people to understand

about the Haitian community in Canada as they try to process this story? Well, I think the first thing is like a lot of people say, well, poor Haiti, oh my goodness, what are you going to do? But I think this is the reality we have to deal with every day. This is our geographical situation of Haiti, the reality of Haiti. It's like saying poor Canada, you know, winter again. So we have to deal with it.

The thing that is very important is how can we help the country to build good houses and be more prepared for those disasters, because there will be disaster every year and it will come. Marjorie, thank you so much for your time. Thank you very much. Before we go today, an update on pandemic voting for the upcoming federal election. Now, I know that Canadians are used to getting complete results on election night, but it will be different for this election. That's Canada's Chief Electoral Officer, Stéphane Perrault. It will be different for this election.

That's Canada's Chief Electoral Officer, Stéphane Perrault. He says Elections Canada is preparing for 5 million people to vote by mail-in ballot. For comparison, only about 50,000 voted that way in 2019. Perrault says counting mail-in votes will only begin after Election Day. And while he hopes most counts can wrap up in two days, high-volume areas could take up to five. That could mean results for close races in some ridings won't be known immediately. There will be in-person voting and advanced voting as well, but Perot warned earlier this month that people might need to go a bit farther to cast their vote. That's all for today.

I'm Elamin Abdelmahmoud. Thanks for listening to FrontBurner.