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SALT LAKE CITY — Haitians are attempting to pick up the pieces after the southwestern region was shattered by Saturday's 7.2 magnitude earthquake, but a growing list of crises complicate the process, says a Utah native living in Haiti.
The quake, occurring about 80 miles west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, killed at least 1,297 people, with the toll likely to rise in the coming days.
"It was neighbors pulling neighbors out of houses. There weren't medical emergency rescue teams available and so you just started digging your neighbors out if you've heard the cries," described Erika Charles. "What we're seeing here is an entire country of traumatized people."
Charles — who relocated to Port-au-Prince and established a nonprofit mental health organization in 2013 — described the devastation across the country.
"Clearly the physical toll is great, there's a lot of cleanup to do, but the emotional toll is especially difficult right now," Charles said.
She said residents of Haiti are exhibiting classic signs of trauma following the earthquake, with many people avoiding medical attention inside hospitals for fear the building will collapse. She added that her organization has received numerous calls since the quake seeking help, some saying their children couldn't sleep because every noise brought on fear and others saying people were frequently fainting due to shock.
A humanitarian report by the United Nations Children's Fund states that at least one hospital and three health centers were deeply affected by the quake. The report continued to say that many patients were relocated to the hospital's courtyards and residents in the area have elected to sleep outside, fearing aftershocks and cracks in the buildings.
Remaining outside may grow complicated as tropical storm Grace is expected to reach the country Monday. The approaching tropical storm amid cleanup efforts of the earthquake is just compounding crises in a country already facing poverty, political unrest following the recent assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise and increasing gang violence.
"In Haiti, in general, the strength and the resilience is incredible," Charles said. "But when these bigger disasters happen — and in Haiti, they seem to be coming faster and faster whether it's political or natural disasters — it is getting harder."
She continued, "The light kind of was already kind of dwindling a little bit in the spirits of people here, and so this earthquake has just triggered a lot of those emotions."
The location of the quake itself also has complicated matters, according to Charles. Some of the areas affected are more remote, requiring ambitious traveling to reach. With the recent quake, the situation has become increasingly difficult as landslides and rock slides cut off the areas even further.
But to even start reaching those areas one would need access to one of the main highways from Port-au-Prince into the south, which is being controlled by rival gangs.
"The south has been basically cut off from the capital — from where most of the resources exist in the country — for the last couple of months because it's just not safe to pass through the gang area. That risk is still there and so there is a challenge of getting supplies and people to the affected areas without having to risk their lives from that dangerous section of the highway," Charles said.
She worries about medical professionals and aid workers being kidnapped by gang members as the country has seen a rise in crime. She described multiple accounts of an ambulance with 12 local doctors and nurses traveling to administer aid being commandeered and kidnapped by gang members on the stretch of highway. She added that this hasn't been confirmed, but she had heard enough accounts and believes it to be true.
Reuters reported that a purported gang leader on social media suggested that the rival gangs had called a temporary truce to let aid pass, but that there was not confirmation of this. Newly installed Prime Minister Ariel Henry said in a press conference that Haitian police and army personnel would help escort medical professionals and medical equipment from Port-au-Prince to the southern region.
Charles said that she had received no word from the government officials, but heard through word of mouth that the process of delivering aid will start to become more possible.
"Some of the most accurate information and the fastest information is not through the official channels, it's through word of mouth and what people are hearing from people that live in those communities," Charles said. "We're planning on sending a small team on Wednesday, and that's been our biggest issue — can we get through that area? Do we need to have the extra expense of flying everybody over the area to get to the affected? But we just got word an hour ago that there seems to be a little pause in activity."
The process of providing relief is amplified by a personal issue for Charles. Charles' husband grew up in one of the communities affected. His aunt died in the quake, his mother's home was completely destroyed and his brother's home was severely damaged. She described the difficult conversations between her and her husband on whether they both would travel to help or who would stay behind with their children.
"What they say today could change tomorrow, it could change in a few hours, the situation is just so volatile that nobody really knows what to expect as we're planning our first deployment. These are the conversations we're having right now," Charles said.
Henry declared a one-month national state of emergency as the country reeled from the quake's aftermath. International outreach continued following the earthquake on Saturday, with the U.S. Coast Guard among the aid attempts.
U.S. Coast Guard aircrews are evacuating critically injured Haitians through helicopters to Port-au-Prince, according to a press release. The coast guard is stationed offshore and will continue to "coordinate with the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, USAID and U.S. Southern Command, Joint Task Force-Haiti as additional resources are mobilized and surged to support relief efforts," the release added.
But Charles worries the international attention and aid won't continue forever, citing "fatigue."
"I think people are recognizing that there's a need in Haiti every month, there's you know with the assassination, there's an earthquake, there's a hurricane, there's gang wars, there are internally displaced people. The focus can kind of get spread out a little bit," Charles said.
She continued, "And then with all of the crises all over the world it becomes a blip on the map of people everywhere that need support right now, that need humanitarian assistance. And so I think just in general, there are resources in the world but they're needed in so many places right now that dispersement is affecting the response we can get here."
But if you're looking for ways to help Haitians and disaster relief efforts, Charles said the best way to do so is through financial donations.
"Financial donations are what we need and that's what really every organization needs right now. There are supplies in Haiti, things can be found here, there are human resources here, locals that can jump in and help where needed. But what we're lacking is the funding to put these plans in place," Charles said.
Organizations that Charles said were really working on the ground included her mental-health center Espere Counseling, the Hero Foundation and Haiti Air Ambulance.
Espere board member Geniel Childs added that despite being in constant crises and struggling, the Haitian people have persevered.
"These people are so industrious and caring and just can't get a break, you know — it's just struggle after struggle, but they continue to move forward in just absolutely remarkable ways and they help each other," Childs said.
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