#1381: Fires rages in Haitian city of Jeremie -Chery comments (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Ralph Chery <raool@colba.net>

 My grandmother lives in Jérémie and I was able to talk to her  today. She
told me how it is such a tragedy in the city of poets as it was known. 14
houses were burned down to the ground and most of them served as shops as
well. There were located on Jérémie 's busiest street and most of them were
old houses made of wood. It is a great disaster in the isolated city. Lack
of wind is what prevented the fire to destroy most of the city where there
are still numerous wood houses and where many people keep gasoline and
kerosen at home.The fire raged for hours since there are no firefighters in
the town.  It is very ironic since in Montreal , an organization had donated
a fire truck to Mgr Romélus, Jérémie 's bishop. Unfortunetaly, it was not
possible to raise money to send it to Haiti. There seems to be a backlash
against fundraising for the moment since many people have lost their
illusions.
In a city where it is already quite hard to do business because of
transportation costs, the fire can be seen a a great tragedy...
Once more , this proud city, maybe too proud at times ( for the wrong
reasons ), is plunged into despair after the wreck of the Neptune,more the 5
years ago, which was seen in Haiti at the time as a local affair.


Ralph Chéry