23353: (Hermantin) Miami-Herald-S. Florida relief aid delivered to Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Posted on Wed, Oct. 06, 2004


RELIEF SUPPLIES
S. Florida relief aid delivered to Haiti
Miami-Dade commissioners deliver tons of relief supplies, donated by South
Floridians, to victims of Tropical Storm Jeanne in Haiti and the Dominican
Republic.
BY ELINOR J. BRECHER
ebrecher@herald.com

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - Herard Abraham, Haiti's interior
minister, smiled broadly on the runway of Port-au-Prince's international
airport as workers slid palette after palette of relief supplies from the
cargo hold of a DC-10.

''This is the biggest amount of supplies we have gotten at one time,''
Abraham told four Miami-Dade County commissioners who, with a Federal
Express executive, delivered goods for Tropical Storm Jeanne's victims in
Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

There were bales of disposable diapers, sacks of rice, sugar and salt,
mattresses, toilet paper, canned soup, baby clothes, toys, first aid kits
and jugs of water: 122,000 pounds in all, donated by South Floridians and
nonprofit groups.

Eighty percent of it was destined for the devastated Haitian city of
Gonaives and the rest to hard-hit areas in the eastern Dominican Republic.

The commissioners used $100,000 from their budgets because, as Chairwoman
Barbara Carey-Shuler told Abraham and journalists at a news conference, ``We
not only love our Haitian brothers and sisters. They are a part of
Miami-Dade County's culture.''

Added Commissioner Rebeca Sosa, ``We are also here to provide prayers for
your pain and suffering.''

''We came personally to witness the devastation,'' said Commissioner Dorrin
Rolle, though the group saw it only from the air, its visit confined to the
airport's VIP lounge. ``Lean on us as much as you can, because what happens
in Haiti definitely affects Miami-Dade County.''

Carey-Shuler vowed that South Floridians would continue to help ``until
Haiti is back on its feet.''

That's a tall order. Jeanne brought the twin plagues of wind and flooding to
the hemisphere's poorest nation, killing at least 2,573 people -- according
to Abraham -- and leaving an about 875 unaccounted for.

''The people first want us to get out the water,'' Abraham said in French.
``We need heavy equipment to clean out the schools so the children can start
classes. Then it's important for the psychology [help] to deal with the
despair.''

With political violence escalating in the capital, Carey-Shuler, Sosa, Rolle
and Commissioner Jose ''Pepe'' Diaz didn't decide until the last minute to
make the trip with Juan Cento, president of FedEx Express's Latin America
and Caribbean division.

Once they did -- aboard a FedEx corporate jet accompanying the cargo plane
-- they worried that the rations might not reach the people who need it
most. Abraham assured them that U.N. peacekeepers' helicopters parked a few
hundred yards away would deliver the aid.

Then the commissioners and Cento flew to Santo Domingo, Miami-Dade's
``sister city.''

At a city hall press conference, Maj. Gen. Luna Paulino, civil defense
director, said the storm had killed 23 Dominicans and injured 337 in poor
rural areas.

What the commissioners called Mission Hope piggybacked on a trade mission
originally scheduled for September but delayed by hurricanes. Diaz, who
chairs the county's International Trade Consortium, said the Dominican
Republic is a $4 billion-a-year trading partner, ``and you have to pay
attention to your trade partners.''

The commissioners plan to return home Sunday.

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