Amid rubble, great human suffering and a continuing struggle to get food and water in the aftermath of a 7.0-magnitude earthquake, people in Haiti are taking the first steps toward rebuilding their lives.
Snippets from news stories reveal humanity and enterprise. In makeshift camps, people have tapped water lines. They’ve set up markets selling oranges, plantains and charcoal for cooking. They’ve reopened barber shops.
Young children play soccer. Local radio stations now are broadcasting Creole-language humanitarian information from local journalists. The U.S. government is distributing wind-up radio sets. Taptaps, Haiti’s colorfully decorated private buses, are running.
With many churches and the main cathedral in ruins, people are holding impromptu masses and services. They are singing traditional songs and hymns to children who have lost their homes and brothers and sisters. With international aid, “cash for work” programs are hiring Haitians to clear rubble and do other cleanup. People are forming community organizations, gathering money for food and water and gathering information to help aid workers.
Even with the enormous logistical hurdles that remain for relief efforts, people already are starting to talk optimistically about long-term recovery and reconstruction. “If you look back in history, other cities that had been destroyed by earthquakes or by fires – London and Lisbon are two that leap to mind – were entirely rebuilt, magnificently,” said the United Nations’ Haiti communications director David Wimhurst. “Now, this would be a wonderful opportunity to rebuild Port-au-Prince.”
People recall the 9.0-magnitude earthquake off of Indonesia in 2004, where 250,000 people were killed in a single day by the resulting tsunami and 2.5 million others lost their homes, families and jobs. The emergency phase in that disaster ended in 90 days, and authorities organized a plan to rebuild.
And then there are the miracle rescues. On Friday, family members and neighbors sleeping in front of their collapsed home heard moaning. After 20 hours of digging with bare hands, they freed an 84-year-old woman who had been trapped for 10 days. Doctors say, unfortunately, she may not survive.
On a more hopeful note, a 23-year-old carpenter who had been trapped for five days in the rubble of a hospital heard three taps from a hammer and tapped back with a stone. American firefighters were able to rescue him and he is recovering from his injuries.
President Barack Obama has asked former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to raise funds for immediate relief and long-term recovery. They established the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, which is funneling money to established groups with a heavy presence and track record in Haiti. For more information, go to www.clintonbushhaitifund.org.
Americans are opening their wallets and their homes to help. The picture of a 7-year-old Haitian orphan arriving at Sacramento International Airport with her new family from near Auburn is priceless. With people in and out of Haiti pulling together, a devastated country can recover.