22168: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-On island, a contrast in reactions to flood (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sun, May. 30, 2004





THE AMERICAS


On island, a contrast in reactions to flood

The Dominican Republic and Haiti, two poor nations in the midst of political
changes, reacted very differently to the worst natural disaster to hit
Hispaniola in 50 years.

BY OSCAR CORRAL

ocorral@herald.com


PORT-AU-PRINCE -- This is a tale of an island relentlessly pounded by water,
and the governments of two poor nations in the midst of political
transitions reacting to the worst natural disaster on Hispaniola in at least
a half century.

On the Dominican side of the border, the president has just been
democratically defeated and the new one has not yet taken office, and in
Haiti, another president was recently violently overthrown, and it isn't
clear who is ordained with executing the government's day to day
responsibilities.

Both countries are as close to political limbo as they are likely to ever be
at the same time. But both have had to put aside differences to aid their
fellow countrymen during the floods that left hundreds and possibly
thousands dead this past week in the remote border regions.

Relief efforts have been starkly different in the Dominican Republic and
Haiti, and nowhere is that more clear than at the two worst-hit areas:
Jimani on the Dominican side and Mapou in Haiti.

''Whatever we have asked the [Dominican] government for, they send us,''
said Edwin Olivares, chief of operations in Jimani for the National
Emergency Commission. ``I've heard that's not the case in Haiti.''

Haitian radio commentators around the country are calling for Haitians to
unite, one of them saying that the floods have had the same effect in
unifying Haitians as 9/11 did in unifying Americans. But not everyone feels
that is the case.

One United Nations official, who asked that his name not be used, called the
Haitian government a ''ghost government'' and said the only reason relief
has reached the people of Mapou and Fond-Verrettes in the last few days is
because of the international military coalition temporarily intervening in
Haiti.

''Were it not for the interim force, there would be zero support,'' the U.N.
official said.

``All the humanitarian relief has been transported by military helicopters.
The Haitian government should organize their own people to go there.''

Further clouding matters, the American-led military coalition here is
expected to hand over power to the U.N. in the next few days. But Lapan said
the handover would not affect aid efforts.

The Dominican congress declared a state of emergency in the area of Jimani
on Tuesday and sent in mobile power plants, a mobile water purifier and
provisions immediately, Olivares said.

The situation in Haiti is also much different because the dirt roads leading
to Mapou and Fond-Verrettes were washed out by the heavy rains, leaving them
reachable only by air.

American military officers acknowledge that were it not for their presence
in Haiti, aid to Mapou and Fond-Verrettes may have taken much longer. U.S.
Marine Lt. Col. Dave Lapan said it was the international force that took the
initiative as soon as reports of the floods began coming in Monday.

''Because of our assets, it's been something we have been able to do that
probably would not have been possible if our forces had not been here,''
Lapan said of aid efforts to the survivors. ``The long-term solution will be
to rely on the government and have the U.N. and international organizations
supply long-term needs. Right now the focus is on the people who survived
and getting aid to them.''

The World Food Program has worked with the military to ship in tens of
thousands of pounds of food, water and emergency provisions in the area. Guy
Gaureau, the director of WFP in Haiti, said the government was doing all it
could with the few resources at its disposal.

''The Dominican government has more resources and their civil defense is
more organized,'' Gaureau said. ``In Haiti it's different because they have
no resources, not because they have no willingness.''

Lapan said top Haitian government officials have been flown into the area to
assess the disaster and determine how to proceed. He said the Haitian
government had not requested any sort of aid in recovering and burying
bodies.

That has fallen mostly on the shoulders of the Red Cross. Red Cross
officials said their efforts are slow because many of the bodies are in
several lakes that now cover what used to be Mapou and there are no boats
available. The military was airlifting in two small inflatable boats on
Saturday.

Herald staff photographer Carl Juste contributed to this report.

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