The three Ds in a Haitian nightmare
DEATH, DESTRUCTION and despair, the three Ds of the earthquake-unleashed Haitian nightmare, can only partly sum up the worse ever natural disaster to afflict that Caribbean nation, already recognised, for generations, as the poorest in this hemisphere.

Port-au-Prince, the capital city, better known even in normal times, for its depressing images of a poverty-stricken shanty town, packed with some three million people, now lies in ruins, with soul-wrenching scenes of bodies in the streets and the anguished cries of women and children amid the wreckage.

Estimates of the dead, injured and missing range from over 100,000 to as many as a million, primarily in the capital where the Caribbean Community has been planning to hold its 31st annual summit this coming July.

In the face of the unprecedented devastation, it is inconceivable that Port-au-Prince could possibly seriously serve as a venue for any major regional or international conference for this year.

The CARICOM Secretariat will simply have to secure an alternative venue (possibly Port-of-Spain?) when CARICOM leaders meet next month in Roseau, Dominica for their first inter-sessional meeting for this year.

Right now, of course, the focus is, as it should be, on national/regional mobilisation for rushing as much emergency aid possible to survivors of the earthquake disaster – like food, medicine, potable water, clothing, and to also locate medical facilities for those in urgent need of attention.

Jamaica has already placed its hospitals and clinics on full alert as its Prime Minister, Bruce Golding prepared to leave yesterday for a hurried visit to Haiti on an aircraft scheduled to take some 150 soldiers of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF).

St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister, Denzil Douglas told a rally of his incumbent Labour Party Wednesday night that he was advised that the Prime Ministers of Dominica (CARICOM’s current six-month chairman) and Barbados’ David Thompson, were also slated to travel to Haiti for first-hand assessment of the tragedies and required urgent humanitarian aid.

Douglas had earlier concluded arrangements for today’s nomination of candidates of his incumbent Labour Party for the coming January 25 general election about which he remains quite confident to return him to state power for an uninterrupted fourth term.

Across the Caribbean Community governments, private sector and civil society agencies, as well as religious organisations and leading media enterprises, remain engaged in intensive efforts to raise funds and materials for the Haitian people.

The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), which has already provided US$200,000 for immediate supplies of water, food, medicines and temporary shelter, plus US$500,000 for restoration of “critical facilities and services”, is expected to also be involved in a CARICOM initiative to tap emergency funding from the international financial institutions.

At the national level, both Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago have committed US$1 million each in emergency aid for Haiti and are pursuing initiatives to centralise coordination of activities to ensure the most efficient and practical means of needed resources reach the Haitian people.