Oxfam UK will dispatching a six strong team of emergency specialists to Haiti to help bolster the charity’s response to the devastating earthquake that struck the country on Tuesday. Below is a blow by blow account at frontline from Cedric Perus, Oxfam’s humanitarian coordinator in Port au Prince –
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I have seen wounded people flooding into the hospitals and buildings of several stories high that are now totally flat. Several thousands have probably died in the quake, but it will it will take time to get a full picture. Bodies may stay under the rubble for a long time because it is difficult to access some sites and heavy lifting equipment is in limited supply.
There are bodies all over the city. People have nowhere to put them so they wrap them in sheets and cardboards in the hope that the authorities will pick them. People have also piled bodies in front of the city’s main hospitals.
Oxfam’s teams have now started to assess the scale of the disaster, across the different parts of Port au Prince, as some have been more severely affected than others. The epicentre was near the slum of Carrefour, where people were living in flimsy shacks. There are reports that over 90% of its buildings are in ruins.
Our immediate priorities will be providing safe water and shelter material for the people who have lost their homes. Many people have lost their homes and were sleeping out in the open last night.
There has been no rain yet, but there was rain earlier in the week and if it comes again it will make the situation much worse for all those made homeless by this quake. It is dangerous at night. Lootings were widespread and some markets were ransacked.
Oxfam UK is now preparing stocks to send to Haiti to help provide adequate materials such as plastic sheeting and water purification to aid the lives of those caught up in the devastation. With communications down and roads, schools and hospitals collapsed, millions of people’s lives have been destroyed since the 7.0 magnitude quake.
