Help us respond to Hurricane Matthew in Haiti

Dear Supporter,

With your generous support, Concern Worldwide continues to help Haiti recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Matthew, which struck with tremendous force in October of 2016. Concern has been working in Haiti since 1996, and we have had a presence on the small island of La Gonâve throughout our time in the country. The island is an extremely isolated region of Haiti and we are one of the few international NGOs serving the area. Our long term presence in a place that sees little outside assistance has allowed us to build relationships with the community and engage in a sustainable development process with robust community input.

During the hurricane, many of the tiny fishing communities that dot the coastline of La Gonâve were inundated by rain and storm surges. Winds blew off roofs and caused hundreds of homes to collapse. The island has only a handful of roads, and Hurricane Matthew destroyed almost half of what little infrastructure La Gonâve had. Luckily, Concern’s history in the area has left us well positioned to respond to the damages.   

Back in 2009, only months before the devastating 2010 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people, Concern Worldwide had just delivered a backhoe (a type of mechanical digger) to the island of La Gonâve. It was a symbol of community empowerment and possibility, intended to rehabilitate an essential stretch of road between the island’s commercial center, Anse-à-Galets, and the community of Les Étroits. The distance between the two communities is only about seven miles, but the motorbike ride could take as long as two hours, depending on how recently it had rained.

Then, on January 12, 2010, the earthquake struck. Damage was minimal on the island itself, but La Gonâve became a haven for tens of thousands seeking refuge, straining its already limited resources.

In the years since the earthquake, most of the displaced have returned home, and work on the road started up once again. Concern worked with the local government and community members — including two specially trained drivers — and completed work in mid-2011. Once commonly called “The Hell Road,” it would from then on be known as “The Sweet Road.”

Now, seven years after it arrived, the Concern backhoe is once again being put into service.

CASH-FOR-WORK

As part of Concern’s Hurricane Matthew response, the backhoe is a critical tool in the rehabilitation of 2,200 meters of road on La Gonâve. Of this, 1,200 meters will reopen the critical road that connects Anse-à-Galets and Points-à-Raquettes, the two main towns on La Gonâve. While the work will rely on machinery like the backhoe to do much of the heavy lifting, Concern’s efforts are contributing to the community’s recovery by employing many community members to accomplish this work. These construction workers — some of whose livelihoods were destroyed by the hurricane — will work on the roads as part of a cash-for- work program.

The additional 1,000 meters of road between Anse-à-Galets and Palma will also be rebuilt. This road is crucial; with a main market in Palma, many rely on the road for business and trade.

The expected improvement of the roads on La Gonâve will make aid distribution much smoother and easier. However, with the roads currently impassable, getting supplies to communities most in need has been no easy feat.

“The work is made very difficult by the state of the roads, which makes transporting supplies — or even just getting our teams out and about — very challenging,” says Peter Doyle, Concern’s Emergency Response Manager.

“We have to use a mixture of road and sea travel, but travel times can be very long, especially as we have to transport supplies in sail boats,” Doyle explained. “Then supplies have to be offloaded on smaller boats as there are no wharfs in many places.”

STARTING FROM SCRATCH 

So far, through distributions, Concern has given supplies to thousands living in the affected coastal villages of Grand Vide, Chien Kontan, Trou le Jeune and Port Trou-Louis. The hygiene kits, aqua tabs, blankets, and tarps will go a long way to help the people of La Gonâve begin the recovery process. But Peter Doyle cautions that there is still much work to be done.

“The recovery process will take months, if not years. Many families have lost everything and so will have to start from scratch again,” he said.

“We need to get people into safe shelters and provide them with opportunities to restart their livelihoods so that they can back up on their feet”.

Concern will continue to make distributions on the island, and there are plans to expand the cash-for-work program to include over 1,000 heads of households. Our water and sanitation teams are finishing assessments of infrastructure and badly damaged sanitation and water facilities so they can be repaired. For families whose homes were lost or destroyed, Concern is planning shelter repair. Though the recovery process will be long, Concern plans to work with the communities on La Gonâve as they rebuild their lives after the devastating impact of Hurricane Matthew. On behalf of Concern and the community of La Gonâve, we want to send our sincerest thanks for your compassion and support.