The residents of Haiti are coping with yet another unimaginable tragedy. In 2010, an earthquake shattered the island nation. Several days ago, Hurricane Matthew wiped out much of the recovery.
For years, St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Hales Corners has been helping a small village in Haiti, located about 10 kilometers up the mountain from the city of Jeremie.
Pam Lownik of St. Mary’s says the reports the parish is receiving this week, following Hurricane Matthew, are devastating.
“There is nothing that remains in our village. There are no trees, there’s no livestock, the only thing that stands is anything that was cement. The cement walls that remain are filled with sludge,” she says.
Lownik says the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew is much worse than people may realize.
“In the earthquake of 2010, the loss of life at that time was completely devastating," she says. "However, the fact that there are no resources to rebuild, there aren’t trees, there’s no shade, there’s no shelter, is what is the pending magnitude of this as being another almost knockout blow to the poorest country in the western hemisphere."
Lownik says the village had been making great progress in recovering from the earthquake that killed thousands in January of 2010.
But now, “I mean it literally looks like a desert, and that area of Haiti was one of the more vegetated areas. They considered it sort of the breadbasket of Haiti. Most people were very proud of it. There was quite a positive feel that always didn’t exist in the larger city of Port Au Prince," Lownik says.
Lownik says relief agencies have begun establishing themselves in Haiti; the U.S. military is also helping.
But she says right now, what is desperately needed is money, so the people can buy the supplies they need.
“Just so that they can have enough gas to go get aid because we are a remote village that is coming to the big city. We were able to get one truck through Port Au Prince with water purification tablets and emergency supplies. The trip from Jeremie to our village, which usually take 40 minutes, now takes four hours. But the truck did get through and that’s the good news. We were able to, with a local connection, get some cash down for them. Because the banks aren’t operating right now,” Lownik says.
Lownik says the focus currently is on preventing a Cholera outbreak, ensuring people are fed, and providing shelter from the sun in the form of tarps.
