A week after an earthquake devastated southwestern Haiti, killing nearly 2,200 people, survivors are struggling to get water and food, but meeting the basic needs of those affected remains a challenge for authorities.
Saturday was enough seconds for tens of thousands of people, some of the most vulnerable in the country, to lose everything they owned after the 7.2-magnitude earthquake.
On the streets, survivors have been struggling every day to find water and food as humanitarian convoys begin distributing basic necessities, but often in insufficient quantities.
Informal distributions of humanitarian aid were held on Friday in Los Cayos, Haiti’s third-largest city, largely destroyed by the quake, which often sparked clashes among the crowd.
The distribution of aid did not involve any logistics and the sacks of rice were thrown into the crowd without the beneficiaries having been previously identified as people in a vulnerable situation, according to a photographer from the AFP.
In Los Cayos, half of a convoy of two trucks was looted by unidentified individuals before Haitian police intervened. The rest of the merchandise was distributed from the police station grounds amid great confusion, the photographer added.
Meanwhile, Marcel François sees the aid parade in front of the ruins of his house, where he spends his days, on the road between the airport and the center of Los Cayos.
“I see a lot of authorities going from side to side, processions of officials with their sirens, big NGO cars. I also see trucks passing by, but nothing comes to me,” the 30-year-old said. which, like many of the victims, owes its survival to the generosity of its close circles.
The UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, arrived in the city on Friday for a 24-hour visit to the country.
“We listen to the needs of those on the ground. There are many shortcomings and we remain committed to supporting them,” the Nigerian diplomat said.
“We have seen an incredible moment of unity in the earthquake response, so we believe this can become an opportunity to rebuild for the better,” Mohammed said before leaving Haiti.
The idea of “rebuilding for the better” is not new to Haitians, to whom the UN already made that promise after the 2010 earthquake, which killed more than 200,000 people.
But the motto did not materialize and the promised reconstruction did not happen in a capital devastated by disaster.
Earthquake and political crisis
The United States, the most influential foreign power in Haiti, has announced the deployment of 200 marines in the country. The eight helicopters that the U.S. military made available continue to evacuate the most seriously injured from the quake-hit areas to more specialized hospitals in Port-au-Prince and the city of Mirebalais.
While the Haitian Civil Defense is working to coordinate the aid coming from a large number of international and national actors, this latest natural disaster has hit Haiti at a time when the country is in the midst of a political crisis.
Just a month ago, President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in the middle of the night at his residence by an armed commando of Colombian mercenaries. The investigation to determine who is behind the attack is paralyzed.
Prior to his assassination, the insulted head of state ruled alone, by decree, because he had not organized the legislative elections to be held in 2018.
At a special session of the Organization of American States (OAS) held on Friday, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry pledged to work to hold national elections “as soon as possible.”