By Tracy Lee
23 May 2009 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: During the 2008 hurricane season, roads and bridges were washed away in the shore of the southern peninsula of Haiti, leaving families in the southwestern seaport of Les Cayes isolated and stranded on rooftops.
“Cayes is still feeling the effects from the hurricanes, primarily in decreased economic resources for families. People lost so much during the flooding—their homes, their livestock, their crops, everything that had any value,” Tiffany Kuehner, Program Director for Hope for Haiti, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life for Haitian people, told MediaGlobal.
Over a course of three weeks in 2008, a series of tropical storms and hurricanes pounded Haiti: Fay, Gustav, Hanna, and Ike (FGHI). Creating extensive damage and flooding almost all of the agricultural land, survivors were left homeless, and hungry in a region already in the midst of dire conditions.
Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and about the size of Maryland, lays in the core of the hurricane belt with the southern peninsula being more susceptible to the brunt of hurricanes. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Index (2007/2008), Haiti ranks 146th out of 177 countries.
With an already crumbling infrastructure, floods and landslides compounded the vulnerable nature of the Haitian homes and people. In the isolated town of Les Cayes, one of the biggest barriers was receiving the necessary help in the emergency relief effort, due to eroded bridges and roads.
Water levels had reached up to three meters, leaving thousands of families scrambling around for shelter as they watched their homes float away. Hope for Haiti was on call during emergency relief assistance for those left feeling helpless and lost. In the midst of Hurricane Hanna on 2 September 2008, Hope of Haiti conducted emergency airlifts after the roads were washed out, bringing much needed assistance and supplies to the Haitians.
“The airlifts in September and November came just in time to provide some of these facilities with medications that were desperately needed. We were completely cut off from access to the main city of Port-au-Prince since the road in Miragoane was washed away, leaving us without supplies, fuel, [or] international relief aid,” Kuehner said.
Kuehner told MediaGlobal, “Once we unload[ed] the plane, we immediately start[ed] distributing the supplies. We distribute[d] to orphanages, clinics, nursing homes, and hospitals. It create[d] hope, laughter, excitement, joy, energy and happiness—all the things that I feel are the most important medicines of all.”
Included in the distribution was the “Survival Bucket,” which contained emergency relief supplies, such as blankets, personal sanitation kits, candles, matches, purification tablets, and dry meals in a 5-gallon bucket. In addition, medication and medical supplies were distributed to local communities and health centers.
Kuehner told MediaGlobal the impact of the 2008’s hurricane season was still strongly felt among the Haitians, and Les Cayes was still a region in recovery.
“In addition, before the hurricanes, it was a real struggle for families to afford the tuition for their children, but now they can’t even afford to pay for a uniform or shoes which are absolute requirements for any school for a student to attend,” said Kuehner.
Currently, Hope for Haiti is setting in motion strategies for hurricane season precaution, reaction, and response. Kuehner urged “sustainable development work [which] needs to happen side by side with emergency relief, to include, reforestation, clean water, infrastructure development, medical, and education efforts.”
