I am sure that most of you have heard about the 5.9 earthquake that hit northern Haiti last night. It greatly impacted the area where we live and work. Denise and I are still in the United States as Denise recovers from her cancer surgery. She is recovering and I am planning on returning before the end of the month.
According to texts we received through the night, the earthquake caused considerable damage in Gros Morne. The second story of St. Gabriels school, a catholic grades school, collapsed along with a public auditorium. First reports are one dead from that collapse. As of this morning, a total of 4 deaths have been reported.
We are waiting to hear if the pediatrics ward is structurally sound at the hospital. The house for visiting doctors is uninhabitable.
The Lycee High School, the largest public high school in town, will need repairs. They think students may return in two months.
We have reached out to Fr. Dachemy, but have not heard back. Guy Marie, our agronomist, is safe. He lives in Fr. Dachemy’s neighborhood and says their area is safe.
Louinel, our star student that is sponsored in the Catholic high school, lost his belongings when the house he stays in collapsed. He was not injured.
We have no word from Gasin, where we live, or Buchan Richard, where The Fr Jim Agriculture Center is located.
We have heard of no deaths from Riviere Mancelle, but many houses were destroyed.
We do not know what all of the needs are, but if you feel moved to help, you may make a restricted donation to aid in recovery efforts on our website. Please make sure to designate your donation “Earthquake relief”. We will make sure your donation is used where it is most critically needed.
We will update as soon as we have more information. Please pray for those who have so few resources during this time. Prayer matters.
With a heavy heart, Bob
Praying for all in Haiti, especially in our sister area.
Praying for everyone in Haiti, but especially those directly affected by the latest tremors.
Bob, I’m being flooded requests from GM for help. You probably have better news arriving regarding the situation. Are any relief agencies on the way? I wasn’t planning on returning until end of the year. I’m currently trying to get a diagnosis for kidney malfunction. If you know of anything hopeful on the horizon for relief on the way please let me know so I can pass it on to people I know. Lots of people still haven’t slept since Saturday. It’s harder to keep their cell phone batteries charged.
I wouldn’t say it’s a disaster area but it’s an incredible disruption of their lives. And many relief efforts if there are any will tend to go to the north coast. Deye monn gen monn. I still don’t know if my own house suffered any cracks but I think it’s on bedrock which tends to move as one piece versus soil which can split into different directions. Ironically I was doing homework for building dome type houses just to put some examples into Haiti. They are reported to distribute the shocks and fare much better in earthquakes as well as they are much cheaper to build. The learning curve on building them isn’t out of range and the equipment isn’t that expensive. The biggest problem is that google cannot distinguish the clear explanations from the expressions of confusions. So it takes awhile to get the info. I’ll let you know if anything interesting develops regarding that.
All best as you and Denise deal with this however you can. It’s a bit close to home.