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The earthquake of January 12, 2010, which devastated the metropolitan region of Port-au-Prince as well as part of the coast of the Sud-Est department, including the city of Jacmel, left more than 200,000 dead and more '1.3 million homeless. In the hours and days following the disaster, many survivors fled the disaster areas to seek refuge in cities and rural areas of the provinces. Thus, the city of Gonaïves, capital of the Artibonite department, experienced a 25% increase in its population in just a few days. A host family remembers.
With our correspondent in Gonaïves , Ronel Paul
In January 2010, Guilmond Saint-Juste and his wife Marie-Claude live with their three children in a small two-room house. But the limited space does not prevent them from hosting under their roof seven survivors of the earthquake in Port-au-Prince. “ It was not relatives, but rather friends I had met in Port-au-Prince. God gave me the opportunity to take care of them during the four months they spent under my roof. I gave them one of the two rooms we occupied. We lived as if we were one and the same family, ”says Marie-Claude.
Responding to the needs of his family at a time when devastated Port-au-Prince was no longer able to supply provincial towns: this was a real challenge for many of these host families, as Guilmond explains: " Faced with this disaster, we managed our way. Fortunately we were just out of December which is still good for business. We had a bus that operated between Les Gonaïves and Port-au-Prince. We didn't earn much. We just had enough to meet the needs of these survivors. But it was a difficult moment and we had to fulfill our duty as citizens ”.
Guilmond and Marie-Claude say that they would not hesitate for a second to welcome people in the event of a new disaster.
► Testimony of the former mayor of Gonaïves
The former mayor of Gonaïves, Saint-Justin Pierrelus, elected in August 2010, remembers the disaster.
“ During the earthquake, there were many Gonaïviens who lived in Port-au-Prince, but also many people from the 15 other communes of the Artibonite department. Inevitably those who had not died returned to their hometowns. At that time, the civil protection as well as the departmental delegate had assembled a work team in order to take care of the victims of the earthquake. As soon as they arrived, the displaced could go to the town hall to register. But many of these people were Gonaïviens. So they went straight home. On the other hand, those who before the earthquake were already struggling to survive were forced to come and seek help from the town hall ”.
What memories do you keep of this time?
" We thought that, despite the terrible circumstances and consequences, this earthquake would perhaps bring something positive for us, the Haitians, with regard to the unity which the Haitians demonstrated at that time. Everyone collaborated, we got along. I thought that this unity would continue and help us to get the country out of the doldrums, but unfortunately today it is quite the opposite. "
RP