Even in the wake of catastrophic loss, the Haitian National
Red Cross Society responded with exceptional dignity, poise
and professionalism.
AT ST PIERRE SQUARE IN PÉTIONVILLE,
a small suburb east of Port-au-Prince, hundreds of survivors
gathered, shocked and dazed, many injured. Some had escaped
with scrapes and scratches but others had sustained deep
gashes, open head wounds, crushed bones and badly fractured
arms and legs.
Across the road, in the garage beneath the
mayor’s office, Haitian National Red Cross Society
volunteers established a first-aid station. The space was
cramped. Cars filled much of the garage, but a steady stream
of people passed through. Wounds were dressed, broken bones
set.
“It’s not the best place,” says Rita
Aristide, a veteran Haitian Red Cross volunteer steeled by
the aftermath of hurricanes, “but people are coming
and we are caring for them.”
Today thousands of people
like Aristide are at the heart of the Red Cross Red Crescent
Move ment’s response. Haiti’s Red Cross Society
has broad disaster experience. The 2007 hurricanes, Dean
and Noel, and 2008’s Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike have
left volunteers and staff with extensive experience on how
to deliver life-saving aid in horrendous circumstances. Just
last year, the Haitian Red Cross offered first-aid training
to roughly 8,000 volunteers.
Victims and volunteers
This
background may be one reason that Haitian Red Cross volunteers
were able to respond so quickly, even after suffering devastating
losses. “At first, I just couldn’t accept what
had happened,” says Cariolain, a 31-year-old volunteer
working at a first-aid station in an improvised camp in a
football stadium. “It was thanks to my work as a volunteer
that I was able to keep going.”
In the days following
the disaster, Haitian Red Cross volunteers not only kept
going — they were at the lead of relief efforts, partnering
quickly with international aid agencies and helping others
even while grieving the loss of their own colleagues, friends
and family. Meanwhile, many of the facilities they used to
rely on for supplies — blood, medicine, food, communications — were
destroyed.
Before the earthquake, the Haitian Red Cross had
some 2,500 volunteers in Port-au-Prince and about 10,000
nationwide. Today, many volunteers, as well as paid staff,
are missing and presumed dead.
“The volunteers, too,
suffered appalling losses,” said IFRC President Tadateru
Konoé during a visit to Haiti on 20 January. “They
are shocked and grieving. And yet their desire to help their
fellow human beings takes priority. They are true humanitarian
heroes and we are both proud of and humbled by their dedication.”
The
commitment of Haitian Red Cross volunteers and the respect
they’ve earned in vulnerable communities also meant
that they and other Movement delegates were able to deliver
vital aid quickly to places where many aid agencies could
not, or would not, go — the sprawling makeshift camps
in Bel Air, one of Port-au-Prince’s most violent slums,
or Belekou, the most destitute quarter in Cité Soleil.
That’s one reason Red Cross Red Crescent distributions
have been generally smooth and secure. “We don’t
use barbed wire or armed security,” says one IFRC team
leader. “We rely on our emblem and the goodwill people
have for the Haitian Red Cross.”
Today, the National
Society continues to work side-by-side with Red Cross Red
Crescent colleagues from around the world in conducting assessments,
evaluating needs, distributing relief, providing medical
care, offering psychological support and setting up water
and sanitation in and around Port-au-Prince.
A case in point:
a partnership with displaced residents to install a temporary
water distribution system at their camp, known locally as
Terrain Acra. After consulting with the residents, the Red
Cross Red Crescent set up a water bladder that provides 15
litres of water per day per person for 2,000 people. “Water
is life,” says resident Hélène Fleurival. “We
wait a long time for food but we can go without food. But
we need the water. Now we have water to drink — praise
God.”
Meanwhile, many among the permanent Red Cross
Red Crescent delegations have also expressed admiration for
their Haitian colleagues. “We owe a huge debt of gratitude
to our Haitian staff,” says Riccardo Conti, the head
of ICRC’s Haiti delegation. “They were living
with terrible uncertainty and loss, and yet they continued
to come to work and keep the operations going.”
The
lucky ones
Throughout the Movement, delegates refer to their
Haitian colleagues as “heroes”. They tell stories
of volunteers such as nurses Michelle Yvétia and Emmanuella
Michel, empathizing with the wounded while working feverishly
to soothe the wounds. Or Guetson Lamour, administrator and
logistics manager, racing behind the scenes to ensure that
all the aid is distributed to the right place at the right
time.
Still, many of these volunteers are quick to describe
themselves as the lucky ones — who now have the privilege
to help others. A computer technician by profession, Pluviose
Louken had been volunteering his services with the Haitian
Red Cross in his spare time. Since the earthquake, he has
been tending to thousands of wounded earthquake survivors
at Canapé Vert.
“I had nowhere to go so I came
here,” he says. “My house is gone. My family
is OK. I have some cousins who were injured but nothing major.
Here I can help others who are not so lucky as me.” |
Members of the Haitian National Red Cross Society carry an elderly earthquake
survivor to a first-aid station in La Primature, Port-au-Prince.
©Marko Kokic/ICRC
"We don’t
use barbed wire or armed security. We rely on our emblem
and the goodwill people have for the Haitian Red Cross.”
IFRC team leader
A worker with the Haitian National Red Cross Society gives
first aid to a young boy with head injuries.
©Talia Frenkel/American Red Cross
|
