Hurricane Aftermath

The rain has stopped and Haiti is now trying to pull itself back together.  Yesterday, Chris and I ran around the area assessing the damage and finding out whatever information was available.  The rivers had risen higher, homes had washed away, and fields of crops had been destroyed.  

The Montrouis River

One of the Neighborhood Homes

Michel, one of our workers, stopped by and told us that a large rock had washed down from the hillside and rolled into his house.  We went to check it out and found this:

The rock was more of a boulder...about 5 feet in diameter.  It crashed into his house in the middle of the night, breaking the wall and throwing him off his bed.  No one was injured, but because of the steep hillside around his home and a church being directly downhill, there is no way to move or break the boulder.  They are going to have to find another place to live.

Later, Chris got a call from Jan Filip, our night guard, saying that he couldn't make it to our house because the foot bridge in the Pierre Payen corridor had been washed away.  Chris and I hiked up to where the bridge used to be and saw this:

Just before dark we got word that the Montrouis bridge was starting to collapse. This bridge is on the national highway and connects northern and southern Haiti. Without the bridge, it would cripple food and supplies transportation and remove the only way for us to get to and from Port-au-Prince. Once again, Chris and I hopped in the truck and to find out what was going on.  If we could drive across, the plan was to leave one vehicle on the other side so we could at least get to Port if we had to. When we arrived, people were everywhere and tires were being used to block off access to the bridge.  There was a definitive dip in the bridge, but we decided that it was probably safe enough to cross.  However, the police that were present would not let us drive across. We headed back with the hope that that in the morning when the river had died down they might let smaller vehicles pass.

Chris got a call just before 8 pm from some people at the local orphanage here.  They had purchased supplies in Port-au-Prince and were stuck on the far side of the Montrouis bridge.  The police were letting people walk across, so they carried everything over the bridge and we met them with one of our trucks and transported everything back to the orphanage for them.

Yesterday was a long day.  All the running around and trying to figure out what we could do to help really stressed us all out.

Today, I went with our workers into the local community to talk with people about the biosand filters. We started selling them at a fraction of what we used to so that everyone can get one if they need it.  We started close to the highway and worked our way up the mountain.  One of our workers lives at the top of the mountain and knows almost everyone in the area because he walks the path five times a weeks.    People seemed to respond well.