Picking up the Pieces in Haiti after Gustav, Hanna and Ike
UPDATE: November 1, 2008
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ActionAid's relief efforts continue in Haiti. After three hurricanes hit Haiti in three weeks, every region of the already-impoverished country suffered. Flooding, devastated villages, and ruined crops are making life harder for survivors. ActionAid continues to provide direct assistance in the form of food, water, shelter and basic health care. We are initiating our long-term recovery efforts by providing tools, seeds, and materials. And we are rebuilding communities with cash-for-work programs that provide survivors with a livelihood while rebuilding own communities.
With more than 650,000 people affected by three back-to-back hurricanes in Haiti in August and September, ActionAid Haiti says that a massive response is needed to help those impacted by the damage and prevent future disasters. More than 110,000 people throughout the country have been displaced. Colossal damage to crops has been reported, leaving the possibility of immediate food shortages and long-term impacts on the agricultural sector. With another month left before the end of the hurricane season, and with much of the country's infrastructure destroyed by the current flooding, Haiti remains extremely vulnerable to future disasters.
Chronic deforestation, unregulated housing and construction, inadequate prevention and extreme poverty make Haiti particularly vulnerable to storm damage. This is accentuated by the fact that many farmers were preparing for the harvest while they were still recuperating from last years floods. Damage to roads and bridges have left many major cities and whole regions isolated.
ActionAid is responding to the disasters by supporting farmers and fisher folk in recovering what they can of their livelihoods, implementing cash for work programs to provide immediate income assistance to survivors, and rehabilitating schools to enable children to return. However, the recovery effort is in serious need of financial support to address immediate needs and develop long-term solutions to future natural disasters
Raphael Yves Pierre, director of ActionAid in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, said: "The whole country is under water and Hanna has devastated crops everywhere. A coordinated response for immediate relief is necessary now. But the government and international community also need to get serious about prevention so that damage on this scale does not happen again."
My name is Alixon Pierre and I am 81 years old. I have 10 children and 35 grand children. At my age, I thought I had seen it all, but I was wrong.
Two days before September 6, 2008 in Nan Kokoye, the community where I live in Hinche; a man with an orange T-Shirt and a megaphone was walking around saying “Rivye a pwal an crue! Rivye a pwal an crue” – “The river will rise! The river will rise!” As my family and I did not understand the word “crue” because we do not speak French, we did not pay attention to what he was shouting.
I have been living tranquilly next to the Guayamount River for more then 30 years now. But early on Sunday morning September 7th, 2008, Hurricane Ike disrupted all peace and serenity. The river rose so high that it crossed the bridge and swallowed the first two rows of houses next to it.
My daughter and her five children helped me out of the house with a lot of difficulties. When we finally got out, I could not recognize where I was. There was water everywhere. People from other communities came to help. We clung onto the ropes they sent us to get out of the water.
It was very hard for me to endure that situation; I do not know how I survived. If before the hurricane they had told me that the word “crue” meant, “rise”, I would have left the house with my family for a secure place.”
Hurricane Gustav struck Haiti August 26, causing at least 50 deaths before moving on to Jamaica, Cuba and the US where it hit the coast close to New Orleans.
Before the water from Gustav could drain away, Haiti was unexpectedly hit by a second storm which killed at least another 25 people. Tropical storm Hanna was moving across the Atlantic towards the Bahamas and Florida when, defying forecasts, it took a sudden U-turn and advanced towards Haiti, briefly reaching hurricane strength before weakening again.
The second storm brought high winds and heavy rain to northern parts of the country on September 1, flooding the city of Gonaïves. Les Cayes, Jacmel and other towns, villages and rural areas were also flooded.
ActionAid continues to provide immediate relief in Haiti, including food, shelter, fresh water and emergency medical supplies. ActionAid will continue our long-standing work in Haiti to help build the impoverished nation's ability to withstand the hurricanes, conflict, and long-term food shortages that ravage the country.
Learn how this crisis is affecting people on the ground. Below, please find the first-hand report of Alixon Pierre, an 81 year-old grandmother and surivivor of these torms.
