The streets of Port-au-Prince are littered with branches after the Sept. 24 storm.
Geurlande Delbruce, a young women of remarkable courage. Photo: Frank Thorp
Stories from the field
Haiti Diary: Sophie Chavanel
Storm hits Port-au-Prince
September 24th, 2010
Today at 3:00 pm, a completely unexpected storm hit Port-au-Prince. Suddenly, the sky turned as black as night and it started pouring torrential rain. It lasted only an half-hour but the damage was severe. A large amount of water had accumulated, branches of trees had snapped off, and billboards and pieces of sheet metal from roofs were torn off and scattered throughout the streets.
As would be expected, the situation was awful in make-shift camps. Most tents survived the storm, but hundreds were swept away or damaged by winds. However, it was the water that was the biggest issue, as it seeped through tents and tarpaulins. It should be noted that the spaces where make-shift camps exists, which are sometimes parks or vacant lots near a mountainside, are not an ideal place to live. There is often no irrigation system and the ground can be unstable.
Red Cross emergency teams responded immediately following the storm, including Columbian Red Cross ambulances which transported patients to the hospital throughout the evening and night. Assessment teams also visited the camps to understand the extent of the damage and needs.
The Red Cross has pre-positioned emergency supplies in warehouses all over Haiti, to assist 25,000 families: tarpaulins, tents, tools, and blankets. In order to reach people quickly, Red Cross teams worked in collaboration with other organizations to visit each camp that required support.
At one of the camps my team visited, we entered the flooded shelter of a young woman, 28 years old, named Geurlande Delbruce. She had given birth the day before and unfortunately, her baby died shortly after childbirth. She had great sadness in her eyes and I couldn’t help thinking about the hundreds of thousands of shelters that hide this kind of indescribable loss. This loss, that continues so many months after the earthquake is a difficult reality to face in Haiti. Although the Red Cross and other organizations are making progress in our work here, the needs remain immense. I will never forget this woman.
Nearby, another young mother was lying on the floor with her eight-day-old baby. The baby is tiny and the mother is exhausted. Nine months ago the earthquake struck Haiti. This baby, like children who will be born in coming weeks, are the children of the earthquake.
“On January 12, 2010, the earth shook violently Haiti. I sat in the newsroom of Radio-Canada in Montreal when I heard the news. The days and weeks that followed were full of extremely strong emotions when I saw, like you, the images of a country of rubble. I then made a decision. I didn’t just want to report the events, I wanted to be there. I then started a new journey as a delegate of the Red Cross.” – Sophie Chavanel, Canadian Red Cross delegate, Haiti.
Sophie Chavanel is the senior communications coordinator for the Canadian Red Cross in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Sophie is a former journalist and joined the Red Cross team in Haiti in August 2010, where she will remain for 12 months. Follow her activities through her field diary below or on twitter at http://twitter.com/SophieChavanel.
