The Morning After

CAPT Thomas Negus  November 7 2010 04:35:24 AM

The two grey Marine helicopters flew low over the winding dirt road.  The road was puddled, but not impassable.  Motorcycles mostly, but some larger vehicles too, made their way along the light brown track - slowing occasionally, but other times driving right through, splashing out great waves of water that even from our vantage in the helicopter above, could be seen to sparkle in the morning sun, celebrating the fact that it seemed as though Haiti was spared.  This morning, at the request of the government of Haiti and in support of a much larger United Nations effort, our helicopters canvassed the southern peninsula of Haiti and reported back their findings to United Nations headquarters in Port Au Prince.

 

I flew into Port Au Prince this morning to meet with our US Ambassador, Mr. Kenneth Merten; the representatives from United States Agency for International Development-Office for Disaster Assistanec (OFDA); and to pay a call on the United Nations Force Commander, Major General Cruz, to see how best we could support the UNs response efforts to the storm called Tomas. We surveyed the road and the towns along the coast as we flew towards the city.

 

We flew along the coast from halfway down the 'southern claw' towards the still recovering city of Port Au Prince.  We flew over the port city of Petit Goave - a city of palms, and bustling street vendors, and waterfront views.  Though there was evidence of standing water in some streets the Saturday Market was open, and there were large crowds about in the streets.  Farther to the east, we flew over the ironically named Grand Goave (Petiti Goave is actually much larger).  I saw the same tent camps that sailors from the USS BATAAN helped erect back in February after the terrible earthquake.  I saw the town center-now opened because the church that collapsed during that earthquake has since been removed.  Here too I saw soggy but bustling streets.

 

We rounded the gentle bend of coast between Grand Goave and headed towards Leogone - this city was devastated by the earthquake, and I will never forget flying over this sad city of affliction on January 18th, the day the Navy and Marine Corps team arrived to begin our relief efforts.  The town then was utterly flattened; buildings appeared squashed, fires burned in various sections, the town's grand cathedral collapsed and leaning crazily on its side.  Today when I saw Leogone again, the town was much cleaned up, streets no longer filled with rubble, but covered with a foot or so of water.  Cars were driving through the brown water covering the streets.  People too were walking about - among its other miseries, Loegone is located on a flood plain, and flooding is not uncommon. Nonetheless the intrepid spirit of the people here perseveres and life in Leogone goes on?

 

We reached Port Au Prince and made our way to UN Headquarters and found that reports throughout Haiti were mostly the same.  Soggy yes; desperate, no. The worst has passed, and though there are still significant difficulties, there are no tragedies.  Anxiety is low, and relief is high. 

 

As we departed the operations center the sun was shining and bright cumulus clouds were resting atop mountains that have looked down upon so much sorrow over the past year.  Thankfully today, they were not crying.

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