The aftermath of the earthquake

2 February 2010

Twenty days after the earthquake, the situation in Haiti remains chaotic. Everybody continues to sleep, eat and do everything outside. The fortunate ones sleep in their yard or in their friends’ yard and live uncomfortably, but at least with decency. Others have had to invade the streets, parks and any open space they can find. It is a sad scene.

An estimated 1.5 million people have migrated: 1.2 million have left Port-au-Prince for other cities in Haiti and the remaining 300,000 have left the country for the USA, Canada, France, and the Dominican Republic.

In Port-au-Prince, what was left of the YMCA office and main Youth Center, from where we had operated since 2001, remains under the debris. Some of our staff and volunteers have lost loved ones and still haven’t been able to bury them.

Food is becoming scarce and expensive, particularly in areas where there is no capacity to absorb people and which have not yet received financial help. The social fabric of the city is changing before my eyes and many areas once considered to be safe now are not.

Nevertheless, at the moment, there is a general sense of calm. People are mourning and some continue to bury their dead, while many walk around as if they are sleep walking. I can’t help thinking about what will happen when people awake from their mourning. I can see some very difficult times ahead for us all.

I recently visited Camp-Perrin, west of Port-au-Prince, where we have a youth centre. Because of its distance from the epicenter, the village is 99% intact, although people are still in shock. I distributed 50 boxes of food to YMCA staff and volunteers from the supplies we received from the Dominican Republic YMCA on 24 January.

I also met 70 students from our afterschool programme, who are eager to return to school as soon as possible. The young people put on a show for us. One of the performers was a student who survived the collapse of the University where he was studying in Port-au-Prince. He recited a poem that he had written about the current situation, in Creole, French and English. Some signs at least that life goes on amid this chaos.

Currently we are focusing on getting the central YMCA up and running again in a temporary location. Our aim is to continue providing much needed support to the community where we work, and particularly to help address the deep psycho-social needs of the young people of Haiti which are beginning to emerge.

Gwenael Apollon, General Secretary of Haiti YMCA