REPORTAGE. “Some of my neighbors have not had water for two or three days”: after the earthquake in Haiti, – Franceinfo

“We are thirsty, we need water!” A Haitian woman in distress tries to make her way in the middle of a crowd that has formed at the edge of a winding road, on the heights of the town of Camp Perrin, in the southwest of the island. A humanitarian truck has just delivered sachets filled with drinking water to the victims. This woman takes one. She will share it with her neighbors “because everywhere, it is difficult to find”, she says. “Some of my neighbors haven’t had water for two or three days. They could drink seven to eight sachets of water because they are so thirsty! ” she testifies.

The victims gathered on this road come from far away, hoping to see an NGO car arrive to deliver water, but also food. A few small packets of rice have just been distributed. “We have just shared everything among all the people present”, says a man.

Four days after the earthquake which left more than 1,900 dead and thousands of injured in Haiti, the situation is dramatic, as evidenced by the state of destitution of the inhabitants of this village of Camp Perrin. The heavy rains which fell on the country during the night of Monday August 15 to Tuesday August 16 did not help the situation. People find themselves with their feet in the water, in the ruins of their houses. And they lack everything: running water, electricity, and very little food in this remote neighborhood, totally dependent on the random passage of NGO vehicles loaded with food.

At the bottom of her garden, a young woman has hardly eaten anything for two days. Just spaghetti distributed by a humanitarian organization, a few avocados found in her grandfather’s garden and the little bread she could buy. A few meters from her, men are preparing concrete to repair the cemetery vaults, cracked by the earthquake. The smell of meat hangs in the moist air. Several women are preparing a mortuary meal.

“We lost loved ones in the earthquake. This afternoon there is a funeral, and we will give this food to those who come to attend the funeral.”

A resident of Camp-Perrin

to franceinfo

All the grieving families have contributed to buy something to make this meal. It will be the first, really, since the earthquake.