From Matthew to Grace: in Haiti, between earthquakes and cyclones, people at the end of their rope
Audio 01:20
Camp Perrin, Haiti, August 16: Bertha Jean-Louis in front of her house destroyed after the earthquake.
A house that had already had to be rebuilt after Hurricane Matthew hit in 2016. AFP - REGINALD LOUISSAINT JR
Text by: RFI Follow
6 mins
Four days after the powerful earthquake that devastated the southwest of the island of Haiti, the victims are working to build makeshift shelters.
The passage of the tropical depression Grace, on the night of Monday to Tuesday, was a terrible blow for the thousands of families on the street.
Almost five years ago, Hurricane Matthew destroyed their home.
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With our special correspondent in Camp-Perrin,
Amélie Baron
North of downtown Camp-Perrin, the Marceline area is devastated.
For several hundred meters, along the national road, all the buildings collapsed.
Four months pregnant, Bertha Jean-Louis is saddened by the ruins of her family home.
When
Matthew
came by, the roof of my house flew off and it was a Canadian NGO that allowed us to rebuild.
There, I suffer terribly, because my house collapsed, I could not save anything.
My brother is dead and my husband is hospitalized with both his legs broken.
I am discouraged, but I know that the good Lord will send another foreign nation that will save us like after the passage of Matthew, That's why I still have a little hope.
His neighbor, Claude Altimé, was not a victim of the cyclone.
On the contrary, he had opened his house to the victims.
House which today is severely damaged.
After Matthew,
I was the one who welcomed the people, because all their homes were destroyed.
But today, I can't do anything, I also have nowhere to go, I am also on the street.
If I could find a place to disappear and leave this area, I would, because I lived through Matthew and now I had this more terrible earthquake.
Really, I had never seen this.
Faced with bad weather, next to his house, Claude is already preparing a makeshift shelter, using a few sheets nailed together, placed on four frail wooden branches.
The inhabitants of Marceline do not even have the luxury of resignation.
Four days after the powerful
earthquake
that devastated southwestern Haiti, emergency medical aid began to be organized with rotations of helicopters delivering equipment and leaving for Port-au-Prince, evacuating the most seriously injured.
The US Coast Guard notably mobilized three of their helicopters.
This international support is welcome for the medical teams, but it does not allay the anger of the doctors of Les Cayes.
The problem is the hardware.
How can we work without available material?
I hope this situation will serve as a lesson for everyone.
There is no scanner in our department
Dr Edouard Destiné explains that he never has what he needs to provide decent care
Amelia Baron
→ To re-read: Torrential rains from Storm Grace hit the southwest
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Haiti
Natural disasters
Humanitarian