Tropical cyclone brings challenges for Haiti earthquake response

NGOs are rushing to respond to a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on Saturday as tropical depression Grace begins dumping rain Monday on affected areas, which were already challenging to access due to ongoing insecurity.

The destruction of roads, remoteness of some affected communities, and ongoing gang violence all prevent swift distribution of aid. Even with the approaching tropical cyclone, NGOS are working to get staffers in place to conduct needs assessments of the population — with over 230,000 people living within 15 kilometers, or about 9.3 miles, of the epicenter — which are likely to include shelter, food, water, and hygiene and medical supplies.

The earthquake’s epicenter was in the southwest part of the country and is primarily affecting the departments of Sud, Grand'Anse, and Nippes. Nearly 1,300 people have been reported dead, with the count expected to grow as response operations and the possibility of additional aftershocks continue.

An estimated 700 buildings, such as schools and hospitals, have collapsed, and there is widespread damage to infrastructure such as roads and bridges. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies estimates that as many as 800,000 people are affected.

The earthquake was stronger than the magnitude 7 quake that killed more than 300,000 people in 2010, but the epicenter was farther away from the country’s capital and most populous city, Port-au-Prince. The nation is still recovering from that event, as well as additional earthquakes and hurricanes in the years since, and the combination of disasters with climate change impacts such as drought, as well as skyrocketing food prices and political instability, have left much of the population vulnerable.

Even before Saturday’s earthquake, 4.4 million people in the country were in need of humanitarian assistance. The latest disaster also comes a month after Haitian President Jovenel Moise was assassinated.

“Any government dealing with all of these emergencies at the same time would be stretched thin and would have difficulties. And along with that, we know that starting off, they’re already stretched very thinly. So I think as an NGO our responsibility is to ensure the best we can that we coordinate,” said Cara Buck, Mercy Corps’ acting country director for Haiti.

 “We saw what happened in 2010, and we learned from that,” she continued. “We are still learning from that, and it's important for us to do what we can to really coordinate with [Haitian disaster response bodies]. … The important part ... is it’s led by those in-country.”

Acting Haitian President Ariel Henry on Monday pledged that aid to those affected would increase “tenfold,” but he did not outline how his government would go about delivering it.

Buck said that in areas where supplies are available, Mercy Corps will provide emergency cash assistance. In places where markets are not operational or regular commerce has been disrupted, the organization will deliver supplies.

NGOs are coordinating with the government’s emergency response organization, the Civil Protection General Directorate, which has emergency operation centers in each of the country’s departments and a national-level center. Despite the recent political chaos following the killing of the president, the agency remains operational and is coordinating with NGOs, said Beth Carroll, head of programs for Catholic Relief Services in Haiti.

Over the weekend, the U.S. Agency for International Development deployed a disaster assistance response team to Haiti to help with damage assessments and coordinate with humanitarian partners. The agency also deployed an urban search and rescue team equipped with 52,000 pounds of saws, torches, drills, hydraulic concrete breaking equipment, and medical equipment to aid in rescue efforts.

Insecurity in the affected regions has been particularly high in recent months, as gangs are increasingly present on the main roadways. This means some transportation companies will not travel the route, Carroll said, leaving organizations to rely on air or water transport for supplies.

The World Food Programme, which provides logistical services for the United Nations, has been coordinating transport of humanitarian supplies and rescue teams, according to Federica Cecchet, deputy chief of mission of the International Organization for Migration in Haiti. She said her team was able to cross an insecure area yesterday, adding she was not confident that ground access would remain.

Some of the affected areas are very remote, she said.

“Up to now, we have not yet reached all the towns and villages. … It is quite hard to reach some of the localities. They can only be reached by horses,” Cecchet said, noting the true extent of the damage will not be known until teams can make it to these parts of the country.

Communication has been challenged, with phone service and internet coverage to the affected regions unusable at times. Buck said Mercy Corps is using the existing infrastructure of a telephone line for publicly disseminating information about COVID-19 to push out messaging about earthquake safety and how people can access needed supplies.

Many people are without shelter as the tropical cyclone bears down on the island, with at least 7,350 homes destroyed. Those who did not lose their homes may still be sleeping outside, Carroll said, because they are afraid of going inside if additional aftershocks come. This leaves people extremely vulnerable, as Grace could dum as much as 15 inches of rain on Haiti, causing further landslides that will hamper transportation of key supplies.

“We have some tarps and kits on hand that we wanted to get out to families who have been affected and would be at risk because of the storm,” Carroll said, noting that CRS was distributing them “as quickly as possible.”

As organizations respond to the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and brace for the tropical depression, Cecchet said she fears these additional stressors — on top of the political uncertainty and ongoing violence — will lead even more Haitians to attempt to leave their country. Many feel they cannot survive there any longer, she said.

“Especially after the assassination of the president, the situation is even worse. So this means, for the migration perspective, that many Haitians are seeking to leave through illegal routes. … Bad things that can happen because it is not safe,” Cecchet said. “Many people are waiting to leave Haiti, so this will increase the migration [flows].”