A first-hand Account of the Tragedy in Haiti by UN Employee Mariana Nissen.

By Rodrigo Brandão

When a major earthquake struck southern Haiti on Tuesday, January 12, 2010, inflicting what many world leaders called an unprecedented catastrophe for the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation, Brazilians all over the world held their breaths and waited anxiously for news. The magnitude 7.0 quake – the most powerful to hit Haiti in a century – struck shortly before 5 p.m. and was centered about 10 miles (15 kilometers) southwest of Port-au-Prince.

A Picture of Port-au-Prince after the Jan 12 Earthquake

Since 2004, Brazil has headed the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and has sent more than 1,300 troops to the country. Combined with government personnel and a large numbers of citizens involved in many charitable and non-governmental efforts, Brazilians are a common presence in the streets Port-au-Prince.

My own feeling of anxiousness about this unbelievable disaster had to do with a good friend named Mariana Nissen, a 30-year-old Carioca who had recently taken a job with the United Nations in Haiti, in their communications department. Ms. Nissen and I have been close friends since the late 1980s, and it was her own drive to explore the world and attend an American university that inspired me to apply for a scholarship outside Brazil and study film in upstate New York.

Thankfully, I heard from Mariana (through Facebook, of all channels) on January 13 and learned that she hadn’t been physically hurt by the disaster. But the account that she now shares with us is a powerful call for action and solidarity to all Haitians, and I’d like to thank her for sharing her story and working so hard to help those in need.

For those interested in donating to the United Nations efforts in Haiti, you can go to the HELP HAITI page at the UN’s Food World Program and donate (tax deductible) as much as you can.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO UN’S EFFORTS IN HAITI

Two Haitians use crowbars, shovels and their hands to clear rubble in an attempt to reach survivors at the Montana hotel that collapsed after an earthquake measuring 7 plus on the Richter scale rocked Port au Prince Haiti just before 5 pm yesterday, January 12, 2009.

Q: It is my understanding that you began working for the United Nations in Haiti days before this devastating earthquake. Can you describe your role with the United Nations, your impressions of the country, and the UN work there before the earthquake changed everything?

MN: I arrived in Haiti just one week before the earthquake. I hadn’t seen much of the country, but from the airplane, I could tell that Haiti was prospering. I could see new constructions rising and people with dignity on the streets. Haitians had access to food, schools, medical centers, and the country didn’t seem poor to me, as I thought, considering that it had survived so many disasters during the previous years, including four hurricanes in 2008.

UNDP, the UN development agency, was strongly committed, working on people’s empowerment, creating jobs, taking care of the environment, promoting the rule of law through activities such as helping the upcoming elections scheduled to happen in the end of January… My job consisted in designing a communication plan to tell the outside world about the progress made in developing Haiti. However, after the quake everything has changed.

The United Nations lost its headquarters and between 150-200 employees perished inside the building. The country’s infrastructure was seriously hit, including the collapsing of several governments’ buildings and the deaths of ministers, government staff and future candidates. In the end, that meant that the capacity of the country to operate and respond to the emergency was extremely limited under those circumstances. Amazingly, after spending a night of hell, sleeping at UNDP’s parking lot and having heard that its headquarters had been destroyed, the UN team reorganized itself in order to coordinate the prompt humanitarian aid sent by some many governments and people.

Mariana Nissen on her first days at work in Haiti (Before the earthquake)

Q: Can you share some official numbers about how many were affected and killed by the earthquake?

MN: The information is very confusing, since the government keeps telling different figures. Right now, they say that 150,000 died in consequence of the earthquake, but the real number will be impossible to know. In the first days, families buried their own relatives or many were burned in collective graves. There are thousands of people who are still under the rubble. A town like Leogane, for example, had 90% of its buildings completely destroyed. There is an estimate that at least 1 million people were affected by the earthquake, but in the end you can say that every Haitian and every international person living in the country suffered with the damages caused by the earthquake – they lost a loved one, their houses, their jobs, their peace of mind.

Q: Has your house been destroyed? Did you lose any friend or co-worker in this tragedy?

MN: Besides the UN headquarter’s collapse, UNDP’s building was severely damaged after the quake, as well as other UN agencies’ premises. All staff was moved to the Logistic Base of Minustah (United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti), which had to be quickly adapted to host us – plus all the search and rescue teams, NGOs, journalists and doctors who came to help.

That means that more than 3000 people share the precarious living conditions that this military base could offer. In the beginning, we had no food, and water was scarce as well. I slept nine days in cars, since we didn’t have enough cots to serve everybody. Air planes flew day and night bringing the humanitarian aid, but for us that also means breathing dust and burning fuel the whole day. We didn’t really care about the living conditions because we were focused on working around the clock to make sure relief could come to Haitians as soon as possible.

Although I had been in Haiti for only one week, I’ve met several nice people who are now very close to me. Fortunately, everybody came out alive from this tragedy. Eliana Nicolini, a Brazilian co-worker and friend, found her two sons alive after the Hotel Montana collapsed. Ricardo, another Spanish friend, also managed to find his way out from this same hotel. However, we’ve all been mourning after Alexandra Duguay’s death; I was actually supposed to be working with her closely, as both of us were in the U.N.’s communication team.

I had two meetings with her, one that lasted until 4 pm on the day of the quake. She was also my supervisor’s girlfriend and it was hard on all of us to accompany his quest to find her. The rescue team finally found her corpse one week after the quake. She was only 31 year-old and full of joy and energy. You could see that she loved her job and wanted to contribute to make Haiti a better place to live, so her death was a tragedy for all of us.

René Preval, president of Haiti and Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations.

Q: How does a Magnitude 7 earthquake feels to a Brazilian like you, who most likely never experienced an earthquake before?

MN: I had experienced a smaller quake in Colombia in 2007, so when the one started in Haiti, I didn’t panic first. However, it got more and more intense as the seconds passed by. Things started to move and shelves were falling, so I tried to find some shelter underneath my desk. When it stopped, a grey dust entered my window followed by screams from several people, announcing that the situation was more critical that I first thought.

A UN building right behind my office had been split in two and one victim was inside, covered with blood, trying to locate a friend. As a first reaction, I sent a message to my friends and family through facebook stating that I was ok. Then, I ran. We all spent the night together at UNPD’s parking lot. We’ve tried to help as many victims as we could, bringing them inside, but some of them bled to death since we had only one doctor and first aid kits to help the injuries. Throughout the night, Haiti shook other 12 times.

The next day, they transferred us to the Minustah military base and we finally could evaluate the size of the damage. People wandered around, carrying pictures of their relatives, asking if we had seen them. Half of the buildings were completely destroyed; dead bodies were lying down along the road. It looked like a war scenario.

Haitians find shelter on the streets of Port-au-Prince.

Q: What are the most immediate needs that the Haitians have right now? Are people safe now? If their houses weren’t destroyed, can they return to them at this point?

MN: We can’t know for sure if people are still safe or not. The earth is still trembling and a couple of days ago we had another earthquake with 6.1 magnitude. Tens of thousands of people still do not have access to shelter and even the ones who do have a house prefer to sleep outside, as they’re afraid of the damage that the aftershocks can cause. The Government is identifying sites for temporary settlements.

The UN Shelter Cluster reports that 20,000 family-size tents (based on family of five, i.e. for 100,000 persons) are available in Port au Prince and that an additional 20,000 family tents and 50,000 shelter kits (one per family) are in the pipeline. Several people decided to leave Port-au-Prince temporally or permanently, to rebuild their lives in the countryside.

Q: Can you describe some of the many ways in which the UN, and then, the Brazilian government, is helping Haiti right now?

MN: The UN has launched a flash appeal, calling for donations to implement a plan to promote relief and reconstruction of Haiti. The plan is divided in 12 humanitarian programs, lead by different UN agencies: emergency shelters and non-food items, logistic, early recovery, education, agriculture, health, coordination and support services, emergency telecommunications, environment, food, logistics, wash, protection and nutrition. Unfortunately, until now, only 36% of the flash appeal has been funded, which can compromise the reconstruction of this country. In five months, the hurricane and tropical storms season will start, which makes the early reconstruction of Haiti a major priority for the UN. If people don’t have at least the basic assistance the calamity can become even worst in the following months.

As for the Brazilian role on aiding the country, the leaders of Minustah, Brazil has reinforced its commitment to provide relief and reconstruction of the country. Airplanes leave at a daily basis from Rio, flying to Port-au-Prince to deliver the aid. Among many other activities, Brazil has also contributed with a field hospital, has worked on establishing tented settlements and lent their police intelligence to help capturing the prisoners who have ran away from the jails after the quake. Also, it has donated at least 15 million dollars to the flash appeal and the same amount to the relief efforts.

Q: Lastly, besides the unmeasurable human loss, is there already an assessment of what has been lost and compromised, as far as the country’s cultural and historical legacy?

MN: Most of the historical sites and symbols of Haiti lie in ruins. The impressive National Palace, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Supreme Court, among other historical buildings have collapsed. According to The New York Times, “also devastated is the Episcopal Church’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, known for its murals of Bible stories with all black figures.” Probably several important and historical documents got lost under the rubble and in the midst of this devastation it will be impossible to think about celebrating carnival, one of the most traditional and expected parties in Haiti.

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