February 2, 2010
Last week, the DC-based organization CHF International asked us to come to Haiti to evaluate the current water and sanitation situation together. The Port-au-Prince airport is still closed to commercial traffic, so I flew to the capital of the Dominican Republic, Santa Domingo, and was driven to Haiti along with the chief financial officer of CHF’s Haitian office.
This morning we made the nearly eight-hour drive to Port-Au-Prince. Once in Haiti, we saw buildings that seem untouched right next to others that were completely destroyed. It was surreal. We also saw a number of markets that seemed to be thriving – if that is the right word. I did not see water tanker trucks, but did see the water sachets and quite a few instances of bottled water.
We are camping at CHF. The weather is good and the camp has potable water, electricity, and internet access so it is very comfortable on-site. CHF’s building sustained little damage during the quake; some stone walls fell over and non load-bearing building walls cracked, but that is about it. The people that have been at the CHF site since the earthquake are clearly exhausted.
We can’t go out at night, so I will be out and about tomorrow looking at prospective sites around Port au Prince and attending government-run water and sanitation meetings. Among other things, CHF would like for us to explore whether we can provide sanitation and hygiene education at the relocation sites (some of which have a very good chance of becoming permanent). More to come later this week.
- Keith Stamm, Water.org Chief Operating Officer
