Haitian congressmen thank
local community for support
PHILIPSBURG--Relaying sincere gratitude from the people of Haiti for the immense contributions offered by the local Tzu Chi Foundation after the recent hurricanes that demolished their country, Haitian Congressmen Noell Eliphete, Wilzie Vilceus and Wilbert Chatelier paid a courtesy visit to St. Maarten.
Sandra Cheung of Tzu Chi Foundation said the foundation had been able to accumulate US $27,355.70 from the local community in its hurricane relief campaign. This amount was wired directly from a local Windward Islands Bank account to bank accounts in Haiti and divided amongst 171 families and 1,288 victims in Gonaives, Haiti, the area that sustained the most damage as a result of the hurricanes.
Eliphete noted that the situation in Haiti was still not up to par. Vilceus explained that recovery in the country had been phased on three levels. Level one was emergency relief, such as that offered by Tzu Chi Foundation. Level two is the ongoing cleanup process. Vilceus said efforts were progressing slowly, as there was insufficient equipment to deal with the removal of sludge, which still occupies a majority of the dwellings in Haiti.
He said persons who are still able to shelter in their homes were residing in the upstairs sections, where basically sheets were substituting as roofs. In addition, many of the victims are still dwelling in schools that were assigned as shelters during the hurricane. Therefore, children in the country still remain out of school.
Vilceus said the Haitian government was making attempts to relocate individuals to other areas of the country able to shelter them and many were seeking refuge at homes of relatives in other areas. He said there was a vast necessity to have phase two completed, to prevent the spread of diseases acquired from the inhumane situation after the hurricanes.
Phase three, Vilceus said, is to re-establish the autonomy of the country, in terms of recovering day-to-day commerce. He said agriculture, livestock and plantations had been lost due to the hurricanes. He said the country was currently in the second phase, which was turning out to be a long process. He said, for example, there were more than 300,000 victims in Gonaives, Haiti, alone; indeed a challenging situation to overcome.
He pointed out that just as the country was in the process of recovering from Hurricane Jean in 2004, these recent hurricanes had set it country back to square one. Therefore, he said, the aim of the country at the moment is to find adequate means to generate financial reserves in the event that another hurricane devastates the country.
He said international help was still needed for the country and would be accepted with the hope that the outside world could assist in helping the country build a sustainable society and economy.
The congressmen extended heartfelt gratitude to the people of St. Maarten for their continued support. Their visit to the island, they said, was to create a direct relationship with the community to show that its efforts were not in vain.
Cheung said monetary donations were still being accepted and could be deposited in WIB account number 21932201.
