'Haiti needs time to breathe' after 1st devastating earthquake since 2010 disaster

 Yahoo/News

Nearly two weeks after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake devastated the Caribbean country of Haiti, killing more than 2,200 people, its surviving citizens and aid workers continue the treacherous work of rebuilding the region.

More than 7,000 homes were destroyed and about 30,000 families were left homeless in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, according to official estimates.

And while an all-hands-on-deck approach has consumed the western part of the island of Hispaniola, many Haitian citizens are wary of foreign intervention that could leave them in a worse position than they’re currently in.

“Haiti needs time to breathe,” Haitian American activist Marleine Bastien told Yahoo News. Bastien was born in the small village of Pont-Benoit in the late 1960s and went to high school there, before seeking political asylum in the U.S. in 1981.

“No country can thrive under constant meddling and interference from foreign nations,” she said. “Haiti wants nations who want to collaborate with them and other nations to support them in times of need. Haiti doesn't need any nation to come and dictate to the Haitian people.”

The country is currently at a historical crossroads. In early July, President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated at his home in a Port-au-Prince suburb by a group of 28 foreign mercenaries. Political chaos ensued as two men claimed leadership of the country. Two weeks after Moïse’s killing, Ariel Henry, a prominent neurosurgeon backed by the U.S., became Haiti’s new leader.

But since then, not much has changed. Rampant gang violence, inadequate police leadership and long-standing mistrust of the government have characterized the former French-ruled republic for decades. Adding insult to injury, just 0.24 percent of the country’s population has received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to Oxford University’s Our World in Data.

Now, with the latest earthquake, the first since the country’s cataclysmic magnitude 7.0 quake in 2010, which left more than 100,000 dead and several hundred thousand displaced, many Haitians simply want relief and stability. But they also want these things on their own terms.

PRESS RELEASE

USAID Provides $32 Million

to Respond to Haiti Earthquake

On August 26, Administrator Samantha Power traveled to Haiti, where USAID is leading the United States government response to the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck on August 14. While in Haiti, Administrator Power met with Haitians impacted by the disaster as well as Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry and other Haitian government officials. She also met with those contributing to the U.S. response on the ground, including the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), members of the US military, and USAID staff based in Haiti. During her visit Administrator Power emphasized the United States’ commitment to supporting the people of Haiti during their time of need and announced $32 million in new humanitarian assistance from USAID to support earthquake response efforts.

Administrator Power, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Michele S. Sison, USAID Mission Director Christopher Cushing, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) U.S. Navy Admiral Craig S. Faller, USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance Assistant to the Administrator Sarah Charles, and USAID DART Leader Tim Callaghan conducted an aerial tour of affected areas in southwestern Haiti. The group then visited the commune of Maniche, in Les Cayes Department, where they surveyed damage and discussed priority needs with community members and local first responders.

Maniche was among particularly hard-hit towns in the region. Administrator Power met with families whose homes were destroyed by the earthquake and visited their homes with them to see the damage. She had numerous conversations with impacted community members, as well as with Maniche’s mayor, police chief, local firefighters and Civil Protection officials. The group visited the town’s school, which was destroyed, and discussed the challenges facing children who wouldn’t be able to start the school year as planned. The Administrator also met with USAID Haitian surge staff who joined with the Haitian officials as part of the immediate response to the earthquake. The group also met with local Haitian partners of the UN World Food Program, which recently distributed USAID food assistance to more than 5,000 people in the town. Last week, WFP began transporting from Port-Au-Prince 830 metric tons of USAID food supplies—enough to feed more than 62,000 people for one month—and is distributing it in affected areas. 

In Port-au-Prince, Administrator Power, Ambassador Sison, Admiral Faller and Rear Admiral Keith Davids, commander of Joint Task Force (JTF)-Haiti, met with Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry and Jerry Chandler, Director General of Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency, to discuss the continued scaling up of U.S. assistance effort and continued collaboration with the Government of Haiti on the earthquake response and recovery. Administrator Power emphasized the importance of improved security in addressing the medium and long-term needs of the Haitian people. The Administrator and Prime Minister agreed that continuing to partner to build capacity within the Government of Haiti is a priority going forward.

Administrator Power held a press conference in Port-au-Prince where she began by expressing her profound condolences to the families of the US service members and Afghans who were killed in Kabul today. She then described how USAID’s $32 million in just-announced humanitarian assistance would support earthquake response efforts, including by supporting humanitarian partners delivering urgently needed health care services, emergency shelter and food, safe drinking water, hygiene and sanitation assistance, gender-based violence prevention and response, child protection, and psychosocial support services.

Later in the day, Administrator Power visited SOUTHCOM’s JTF-Haiti Operations Center in Port-au-Prince, where she thanked Admiral Faller and members of JTF-Haiti for their work providing air transport for relief personnel and supplies in support of USAID’s earthquake response, and for medevacing critically injured Haitians to receive medical treatment. As of August 26, JTF-Haiti--including the U.S. Coast Guard--has conducted 413 missions, assisted or rescued 458 people, and delivered more than 205,700 pounds of vital aid, including food, water, medical supplies, and equipment.

Afterwards, Administrator Power met with USAID Haitian staff who were impacted by the earthquake. She also sat down with members of the USAID DART team to thank them for their work leading U.S. government response efforts on the ground. She then joined them in a memorial that honored the life of DART member and revered USAID colleague Tresja Denysenko. Denysenko passed away unexpectedly on August 19 in Haiti while serving on the DART.

For the latest updates on USAID’s humanitarian assistance in Haiti:August 14 2021 Haiti Earthquake

UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Office of Press Relations

For Immediate Release

August 26, 2021

The United Nations Volunteers Programme opens a call for Haitians to become UN Volunteers and support the UN Humanitarian Response in the aftermath of the earthquake.

We would much appreciate your support in sharing widely and, if possible, through your channels, the attached press release. Indeed, find here some images if needed.

For media inquiries, please contact:

In Panama – UNV Regional Office:
Carmen Ramirez, Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.,  cel +507 6997 1704

In Haiti:
Farlone Timo, Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser., cel +50944006002

Bests,

Farlone TIMO 

UNV Program Assistant 

UNDP / HAITI Office 

14, Rue Reinbold, Bourdon 

Port-au-Prince, Haïti (W.I) 

The Miami Herald

Although the results of the tests taken last spring weren’t used to determine if children progressed to the next grade, they showed challenging times lie ahead in getting children — many of whom have not been in a classroom in over a year — caught up academically.

Of particular concern were high school algebra results. Only 23% of Broward County high school students achieved a satisfactory score of 3 or higher. That’s down 19 points from the 42 percent levels of 2019. “I can’t even come up with the right adjective to describe them,” said Board Vice Chair Laurie Rich Levinson. “This was a 19% drop from the last time students were tested during the 2019 school year.”

Broward middle school students taking algebra 1 also had a big drop in their test scores, with only 70 percent scoring a three or higher in the standardized tests, down 21 points from the 91 percent metric in 2019.  Miami-Dade high schoolers fared only slightly better in algebra 1, with 32% achieving a satisfactory or better score, down 8 points from 40 percent in 2019, according to the results released at the Broward meeting Tuesday.

Miami-Dade middle school students also had a significant drop in algebra 1, with 71 percent scoring 3 or higher, down 17 points from the 88 percent in 2019. The results of the Florida Standards Assessment and the End of Course exams were released by the district in late July, but the School Board only publicly discussed them Tuesday.

Officials said the poor performance was not unexpected, particularly in math because so few students — less than half — returned to in-person learning last school year. Educational experts say math is taught best with face-to-face visual instruction.